The  Pastor. 


'''^    5ICK-R.OOM 


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PRINCETON,     N.     J. 


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Shelf. 


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BV    4335     .W4  ^ 

Wells,    John   Dunlap,     1815- 
1903. 

The    pastor    in    the    sick-roo 


THE 


PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 


THREE  LECTURES 

DELIVERED  AT  PRINCETON  THEOLOGICAL  SEMI- 
NARY, March,  1892. 


BY 

JOHN   D.KvELLS,  D.D., 

SENIOR  PASTOR  OF  SOUTH  THIRD  STREET  PRESBYTERIAN  CHURCH, 

BROOKLYN,  N,  Y. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD  OF   PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  AVORK, 

1334  CHESTNUT  STEEET. 


COPYRIGHT,  1893,  BY 

THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE 

PRESBYTERIAN  BOARD   OF   PUBLICATION 
AND  SABBATH-SCHOOL  WORK. 


All  Bights  Reserved, 


Westcott  &  Thomson, 
Stereotypers  and  Electrotypers,  Philada. 


PREFACE. 


This  little  volume  is  made  up  of  three  lectures 
delivered  to  the  students  of  Priucetou  Theological 
Seminary  in  March,  1892.  They  are  now  pub- 
lished at  the  request  of  the  professors  who  heard 
them. 

Fully  recognizing  their  defects,  I  offer  them  as 
a  contribution  to  a  very  important  branch  of 
pastoral  service,  hoping  that  other  pastors  of  large 
experience  may  supplement  them  for  the  benefit 
of  younger  brethren,  the  salvation  of  souls  and 
the  glory  of  God. 

J.  D.  W. 

Parsonage,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 

1892. 

3 


CONTENTS. 


LECTURE  I. 

THE  DIFFERENCE  BETWEEN  THE  SICK-BED 
AND  THE   DEATH-BED. 

PAGE 

Introductory ;  the  Mulatto  Barber 11 

The    Sick-bed    not  a   Favorable   Place  for  Finding  the 

Saviour      16 

The  Death-bed  Different  from  the  Sick-bed 32 

The  Death  of  the  Wicked 38 

The  Death  of  the  Righteous 41 

LECTURE  IL 

SALVATION  POSSIBLE,  AND  IN  MANY  CASES 
PROBABLE,   ON  THE  DEATH-BED. 

Tendency  to  Presumption  or  Despair 51 

Salvation  is  Possible 54 

The  Nature  of  Conversion 54 

Well-authenticated  Cases 57 

Young  Man  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico 57 

The  Dying  Robber  of  the  Gospels 59 

Wise  to  Speak  and  Pray  in  Desperate  Cases 63 

Dr.  I.  S.  Spencer  on  Delay  of  Conversion 64 

5 


6  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Difference  between  Sick-bed  and  Death-bed  not  Clearly 

Eecognized 64 

Salvation  Probable ;  Household  Covenant 65 

Little  Children  of  Believing  Parents 67 

Last  Sermon  of  Spurgeon 69 

Wayward  Youth  of  Christian  Parents 70 

A  Personal  Incident 73 

Children  of  Godly  Parents  cut  off  Suddenly ;  the  Young 

Scotchman 75 

Sons  of  Godly  Parents  going  from  Home 76 

Other  Children  of  the  Covenant 77 

The  Young  Woman  in  Despair 78 

A  Sailor  Fatally  Wounded 79 

An  Old  Woman  Brought  to  Christ 82 

Alexander,  Condemned  and  Shot 84 


LECTURE  IIL 

WEONG  TREATMENT  OF  THE  SICK  AND  DYING; 
EIGHT  TREATMENT  OF  THE  SAME;  USES  THAT 
MAY  BE  MADE  OF  THEIR  EXPERIENCE. 

Wrong  Treatment     .    -, 91 

Students  of  Theology  Winners  of  Souls 91 

Physicians  of  the  Sick  and  Dying     . 92 

Others  should  Remember  the  Weak  Body 96 

Haphazard  Treatment  of  the  Soul 97 

Irreligious  Kindred  doing  Wrong 98 

Confessors  of  Christ  doing  Wrong ;  a  Sad  Case  ;   .   .   .   .  100 

Heaping  up  Teachers 104 

Right  Treatment 106 


CONTENTS.  7 

PAGE 

A  Few  Well-chosen  Words 106 

Form  a  Right  Public  Sentiment 107 

A  Little  Boy  Lost  and  Found 107 

''Faith  Cure,"  "Mind  Cure,"  "Christian  Science"  Dan- 
gerous; Send  for  a  Physician 110 

Shall  we  Tell  the  Fatally  Sick  that  they  will  Die?  .    .    .  Ill 

One  Counselor  of  the  Unsaved 113 

He  should  Know  that  he  is  Called 113 

Let  him  See  the  Sufferer  Alone 114 

Every  Case  a  Careful  Study 115 

Frequent  and  Short  Visits 115 

Write  to  the  Sick  and  Dying 116 

The  Holy  Spirit  uses  Bible  Truth 117 

Hymns  and  Singing 119 

Narratives  of  Christian  Experience 119 

Pray  Much,  and  Secure  Prayers  of  Others  .    • 120 

Uses  of  Death-bed  Experiences 123 

No  Uniform  Rule 123 

In  Exceptional  Cases 1 24 

In  Most  Cases 124 

A  Christian  Lineage  better  than  a  Kingly 124 

Records  of  Conversions 125 

Conclusion 127 


LECTURE   I. 

XTbe  H)itference  between  tbe  SicI^*:Beb  ant) 

tbe  S)eatb*JSeD* 


THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICKROOM. 


I 


LECTURE  I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

COME  to  you,  brethreD,  simply  as  a  pastor.     I 

hope  to  give  you  three  lectures,  not  with  the 

learning  of  books  or  of  the  schools — although  these 

are   invaluable   sources   of    information   on    many 

subjects — but  out  of  many  years'  experience  with 

the  sick  and  the  dying.     I  ask  you  to  interrupt  me 

at  any  point  in  my  reading  of  the  lectures  if  you 

think  it  important  to  do  so,  or  to  question  me  at 

the  close  of  each  lecture,  should  it  occur  to  you  that 

anything  of  which  I  may  speak  requires  clearer, 

fuller  or  different  statement. 

Long   before  my  ordination  and   installation   I 

was  drawn  into  the  presence  of  the  sick  and  the 

dying.     The   first  encouragement   I  remember  to 

have  had  in  laboring  for  the  salvation  of  one  on  a 

death-bed  was  in  this  place,  while  a  student  in  this 

theological  seminary.     Hearing  that  a  young  mu- 
ll 


12  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

latto  barber  was  sick  and  that  no  one  called  on 
him,  I  ventured  to  do  so.  I  saw  at  a  glance  that 
there  were  unmistakable  symptoms  of  j^ulmonary 
disease,  and  I  determined  to  be  frank  and  faithful 
in  dealing  with  his  soul. 

He  was  lying  on  his  bed  in  full  dress,  with  a 
guitar  at  his  side  and  secular  music  within  easy 
reach.  I  noticed,  too,  that  on  the  fingers  of  one 
hand  there  was  a  profusion  of  rings.  After  a  few 
words  of  ordinary  conversation  I  asked  if  he  had 
a  physician.  Learning  that  he  was  under  the  care 
of  a  competent  man,  I  asked  further  if  he  had 
been  told  what  was  the  nature  of  his  sickness.  He 
answered,  no,  but  that  he  would  like  to  be  in- 
formed. I  then  felt  free  to  ask  if  he  wished  my 
opinion,  and  being  assured  that  he  did,  I  told  him 
tenderly  but  plainly  that  I  feared  his  disease  was 
incurable,  and  that  I  would  very  much  like  to 
know  if  he  was  prepared  for  the  life  following 
this,  which  was  evidently  very  frail  and  uncertain. 
He  replied  that  he  had  given  the  matter  no  serious 
thought,  and  was  wholly  unprepared  for  leaving 
the  world. 

Then,  as  fully  and  as  earnestly  as  possible,  I  in- 
structed him  out  of  the  Scriptures  on  the  deceit- 
fulness  and  desperate  wickedness  of  the  heart ;  the 


INTRODUCTORY.  13 

jnst  exposure  of  the  unpardoned  sinner  to  the  pen- 
alty of  God\s  law ;  the  necessity  of  the  birth  from 
above ;  the  willingness  and  ability  of  Jesus  Christ 
to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come  unto  God  by 
him ;  and  the  presence  and  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  make  the  sinner  a  new  creature  in  Christ 
Jesus.  I  told  him  that  he  must  take  the  Saviour 
at  his  word,  repent  of  his  sins  and  believe  the 
good  news  of  salvation  without  money  and  without 
price,  coming  to  Jesus  Christ  on  his  own  invita- 
tion :  ^^  Come  unto  me,  all  ve  that  labor  and  are 
heavy  laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest/' 

After  prayer,  and  as  I  was  leaving,  I  begged 
him  to  cast  himself  as  he  was  upon  the  mercy  of 
God  in  Jesus  Christ ;  to  do  it  without  delay,  and 
to  have  no  doubts;  to  confess  his  sinfulness  and 
transgressions,  and  to  plead  for  the  salvation  that 
would  certainly  come  to  him  with  the  knowledge 
and  belief  that  the  blood  of  Jesus  Christ  the  Son 
of  God  cleanseth  us  from  all  sin. 

Being  very  anxious  for  him,  I  called  the  next 
day,  but  before  I  could  pass  from  the  door  of  his 
room  to  tlie  bed  where  he  lay  he  reached  out  his 
hand  and  greeted  me  with  words  of  cheerful  hope. 
He  assured  me  that  he  had  found  peace  in  believ- 
ing.    I  feared  that  he  was  mistaken — that  he  had 


14  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BO 031. 

received  the  Word  with  joy,  but  had  no  depth  of 
conviction  or  true  sorrow  for  sin  or  faith  in  the 
Saviour.  Therefore  I  carefully  questioned  him  re- 
garding his  views  of  sin,  of  repentance,  of  the  new 
birth,  and  of  the  person,  the  offices  and  the  suffer- 
iugs  of  Christ  as  the  only  Saviour  of  sinners.  As 
the  result,  I  could  only  believe,  with  wonder  and 
gratitude,  that  he  had  indeed  so  quickly  passed 
from  death  unto  life.  There  was  a  change  even  in 
the  aspect  of  his  room  and  person.  Old  things 
had  passed  away ;  behold  !  all  things  had  become 
new.  The  guitar  and  music  and  rings  had  disap- 
peared, though  I  had  not  said  a  word  about  them. 
Other  persons  of  larger  experience  than  myself 
were  taken  to  see  and  converse  with  him.  All 
were  constrained  to  believe  that  the  change  was 
real  and  saving.  The  effect  on  the  condition  of 
his  health  was  remarkable.  He  rose  from  his  bed, 
lived  through  the  spring  and  summer,  and  late  in 
the  fall  it  pleased  the  Saviour  to  call  him  home. 
The  day  before  his  departure,  I  said  to  him, 
^'  James,  you  are  near  the  grave ;  does  it  seem  dark 
and  forbidding  to  you  ?"  He  answered  pleasantly, 
^'  I  am  looking  beyond  the  grave,  and  there  I  see 
nothing  but  light ;  I  am  not  afraid  of  death  and 
the  grave.'' 


INTRODUCTORY.  15 

His  death  was  very  peaceful.  There  was  no 
cloud  upon  his  reason  and  no  darkness  in  his  soul. 
With  an  unshaken  trust  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
he  entered  the  river,  and  found  the  everlasting 
arms  about  him  all  the  way  over.* 

My  close  connection  with  the  case  of  this  humble 
barber  has  had  its  influence  upon  my  treatment  of  the 
sick  and  dying  during  all  these  later  years.  With 
hundreds  I  have  gone  as  far  as  possible  in  their 
drawing  near  to  the  grave.  From  the  bed-sides 
of  many  who  were  sick  not  unto  death  I  have  come 
back  a  sad  witness,  as  their  after-life  unmistakably 
proved,  that  their  good  resolutions  were  as  the  morn- 
ing cloud  and  the  early  dew.  An  interest  ofttimes 
growing  to  fascination  has  kept  me  near  the  suffer- 
ers rather  to  help  than  to  see  and  hear.  Some  of 
the  rarest  scenes  this  side  of  heaven  are  in  the  rooms 
of  sickness  and  death.  Others  are  too  appalling  to 
admit  of  description. 

The  results  of  observation  and  reflection  in  many 
and  varying  circumstances  can  hardly  fail  to  be 
useful  to  the  living,  and  especially  to  those  who 
expect  to  minister  in  the  pulpit  and  the  private 
house.     Some  of  these  results,  verified  by  confer- 

*  See   tract,   James  the  Barber,  No.  673,  published  by  the 
American  Tract  Society  many  years  ago. 


16  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

ence  with  other  pastors,  I  have  recorded,  and  hope 
to  make  known  to  you.  Cases  of  exceptional 
interest  have  compelled  me  to  change  my  views  re- 
garding the  possibility,  and  even  probability,  of 
salvation  coming,  by  God's  blessing,  to  those  who 
are  sick  and  soon  to  die,  when  they  who  watch  for 
their  souls  are  wise  and  faithful.  For  this  reason 
I  ask  a  hearing  from  you,  dear  brethren,  who  are 
preparing  for  the  sacred  office  of  the  Christian 
ministry  and  the  responsible  work  of  pastors.  I 
am  to  speak  especially,  though  not  exclusively,  of 
those  who  are  believed  to  be  without  Christ  when 
they  fall  sick  or  are  fatally  hurt.  At  best  their 
condition  is  desolate  in  the  extreme.  Some  are  sud- 
denly bereft  of  reason ;  others  are  stupefied  by  nar- 
cotics or  excited  by  fever  or  stimulants.  The  Ad- 
versary may  assail  them  with  all  his  subtlety,  malig- 
nity and  might  because  he  sees  that  he  has  but  a 
short  time.  Possibly  they  may  be  cut  off  from  all 
communication  with  those  who  would  gladly  point 
and  lead  them  to  Christ.  By  these  and,  it  may  be, 
other  difficulties  they  are  beset.  Left  to  them- 
selves, they  are  in  danger  of  becoming  victims  of 
fatal  delusions.  If  they  have  many  teachers  and 
conflicting  counsels,  they  can  hardly  fail  to  be  con- 
fused and  distracted.     They  may  not  have  a  single 


THE  SICK-BED.  17 

competent  and  faithful  guide,  and,  failing  to  lay 
hold  on  eternal  life,  at  last  die  in  their  sins. 

But  I  firmly  and  gladly  believe  that  many  sin- 
ners are  called  and  justified  and  saved  on  beds  of 
death.  In  the  fond  hope  that  the  number  may  be 
largely  increased  by  God's  blessing  on  wise  and 
earnest  efforts  of  Christian  ministers  and  others,  I 
ask  to  be  heard  here,  where,  fifty  years  ago,  I  sat 
with  many  others  at  the  feet  of  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander,  Dr.  Samuel  Miller,  Dr.  Charles  Hodge 
and  Dr.  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  all  of  blessed 
memory. 

The  main  subject  of  this  lecture  is  The  Slch-Bed 
and  The  Death- Bed,  with  the  difference  between 
them  in  relation  to  salvation. 

Whatever  may  be  the  nature  of  sickness,  the 
hand  of  God  is  in  it.  Second  causes,  with  which 
we  and  others  have  so  much  to  do,  are  not  beyond 
the  control  of  the  Great  First  Cause.  Malarial 
and  all  other  diseases,  with  calamities  of  every 
kind,  are  subject  to  the  divine  will.  And  the  liv- 
insr,  exalted  Christ  is  given  to  be  Head  over  all 
things  to  the  Church.  This  great  truth  ought  to 
be  recognized  and  prized  more  than  it  is.  What 
can  be  more  comforting  when  sickness  or  peril 
comes  to  ourselves?     So,  too,  it  is  our  encourage- 


18  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

ment  in  efforts  for  the  salvation  of  others  who 
are  or  seem  to  be  not  far  from  death.  Yet  truth 
requires  me  to  say  that  a  sick-bed  is  a  most  unfavor- 
able place  for  laying  hold  on  eternal  life. 

To  the  proof  of  this  I  ask  your  earnest  attention. 

1.  The  invitations  and  promises  of  the  Bible  are 
addressed  mainly  to  persons  supposed  to  be  in 
health. 

The  young  are  expected  to  remember  their  Cre- 
ator in  the  days  of  their  youth,  while  the  evil  days 
come  not,  nor  the  years  draw  nigh  when  they  shall 
severally  say,  "  I  have  no  pleasure  in  them.'^  These 
"  evil  days  "  come  sooner  or  later,  with  bodily  weak- 
ness and  mental  distress.  If  greatly  delayed,  they 
come  at  last,  in  many  if  not  most  cases,  with  the 
decay  and  depression  of  old  age.  It  is  a  fact 
abundantly  verified  that  few  turn  to  the  Lord  and 
find  the  strong  consolations  of  good  hope  after  the 
high  meridian  of  life.  "  I  love  them  that  love  me, 
and  those  that  seek  me  early  shall  find  me.''  This 
sweet  assurance  of  personal  Wisdom  is  in  perfect 
keeping  with  what  Jesus  said  long  after,  taking 
little  children  to  his  arms  :  '^  Suffer  the  little  chil- 
dren to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of 
such  is  the  kingdom  of  God." 

2.  The  revealed  plan  for  saving  the  lost  sup- 


THE  SICK-BED.  19 

poses  them,  for  the  most  part,  gathered  in  places 
where  the  word  of  salvation  is  publicly  heralded. 
So  it  was  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  when  three 
thousand  were  added  to  the  Church  ;  and  a  little 
after,  when  other  thousands  swelled  the  number  of 
disciples. 

God's  true  ministers  are  ambassadors  for  Christ. 
They  are  messengers,  heralds,  authorized  and  com- 
manded to  make  known  the  terms  of  peace,  to  pub- 
lish the  glad  tidings  of  great  joy.  Of  course  they 
are  required  to  preach  the  gospel  from  house  to 
house  as  well  as  in  public  places ;  to  single  individ- 
uals, young  and  old,  as  they  have  opportunity. 
Yet  their  great  commission  supposes  them  to  have 
access  to  the  multitudes  where  they  are  gathered 
together,  and  not  chiefly  in  rooms  darkened  by 
sickness.  It  is  true  that  large  numbers  of  the  un- 
saved gather  on  funeral  occasions  in  private  houses 
or  places  of  public  worship,  out  of  respect  for  their 
fellows  whose  bodies  are  about  to  be  buried,  or 
from  sympathy  with  the  afflicted,  or  from  a  morbid 
curiosity,  and  on  these  occasions  the  gospel  may  be 
faithfully  and  earnestly  preached.  But  I  believe 
that  saving  benefits  rarely  follow.  A  pastor  of 
great  devotion  and  large  experience  has  left  his  tes- 
timony that  he  never  knew  a  sinner  to  be  awakened 


20  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

and  brought  to  Christ  as  the  result  of  attendance 
upon  a  funeral  service.  His  explanation  is  this  : 
While  it  is  ever  true  that  God  waits  to  be  gracious 
and  has  no  pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked,  it 
is  also  true  that  he  will  not  suffer  himself  to  be  dis- 
honored, and  the  gospel  of  his  grace  neglected,  by 
those  who  will  not  meet  him  in  his  house  on  ordi- 
nary occasions,  but  who  are  not  willing  to  absent 
themselves  from  services  for  the  burial  of  the  dead, 
for  reasons  already  given. 

It  has  been  my  aim  throughout  my  ministry  to 
make  funeral  services  helpful  to  the  living  for  the 
consolation  of  the  bereaved  and  the  salvation  of 
the  lost.  In  a  single  case,  conducting  the  service 
for  the  burial  of  a  merchant  who  had  taken  his 
own  life,  I  had  reason  to  hope  that  one  of  his 
salesmen  was  savingly  impressed  by  the  words 
spoken  and  the  awful  solemnity  of  the  occasion. 
He  was  received  into  the  communion  of  our 
church  on  confession  of  Christ,  but  after  some 
years  of  consistent  living  in  connection  with  us  he 
disappeared,  and  we  know  not  where  he  is,  if  he  is 
still  among  the  living.* 

*  Since  delivering  this  lecture  T  have  heard  of  an  eminent 
pastor,  whose  name  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  give,  who  thinks 
that  under  his  ministry  many  have  been  won  to  Christ  by  the 
gospel  preached  on  funeral  occasions. 


THE  SICK-BED.  21 

3.  Persons  to  whom  the  gospel  comes  with  sav- 
ing power  are  supposed  to  be  in  circumstances 
favorable  to  active  and  grateful  service  to  their  new 
Master. 

Thus,  standing  idle  in  the  market-place  at  any 
hour,  they  are  called  to  work  in  the  vineyard  of  the 
Lord  and  receive  the  wages  that  he  never  fails  to 
give  to  those  who  serve  him. 

Entrusted  with  talents  one  or  many,  they  are  to 
use  them  for  increase,  that  they  may  give  account 
with  joy,  and  not  with  grief,  and  have  rule  over 
cities  according  to  their  several  ability. 

Engaged  in  the  law^ful  work  of  their  farms  or 
merchandise,  or  even  satisfied  with  social  delights 
in  their  families,  they  are  called  to  a  feast,  "a 
great  supper,"  by  One  who  puts  no  hindrance  in  the 
way  of  honorable  pursuits  and  domestic  happiness, 
but  by  his  gracious  feasts  of  love  prepares  his  guests 
for  active  service  and  large  rewards. 

In  this  and  other  parables  of  our  Lord  there  is 
no  suggestion  of  sickness  and  the  interruption  of 
the  work  of  life. 

4.  It  is  an  historical  fact  that  the  family  of  God 
on  earth  has  its  chief  increase  from  those  who  are 
strong  and  in  health.  Under  the  ministry  of  Christ 
and  those  who  served  him  in  the  early  years  of  this 


22  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

ministration  of  tlie  Spirit,  there  were  many  in- 
stances of  individuals,  whose  names  are  preserved  in 
the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  turning  to 
the  Lord.  But  they  were  not  persons  subdued  to 
sobriety  and  unworldliness  by  sickness,  possibly  with 
death  in  near  prospect.  The  miracles  of  healing 
wrought  by  Jesus  were  largely  meant  to  show  that 
the  Son  of  ]\Ian  had  power  on  earth  to  forgive  sins 
and  to  prepare  witnesses  who  would  show  forth  the 
praises  of  him  who  had  not  merely  healed  their 
sickness,  but  called  them   from  death  unto  life. 

When  the  Holy  Ghost  was  given  to  the  eleven 
and  their  associates,  godly  men  and  women,  a  way 
was  soon  made  for  them  to  the  people  of  Samaria 
and  Csesarea,  of  Antioch  and  the  cities  of  Asia,  of 
Macedonia  and  Achaia  and  other  parts  of  Europe. 

To  this  day,  as  the  so-called  "  sacramental  host,'' 
under  the  commission  and  command  of  our  Lord, 
we  are  required  to  put  on  the  panoply  of  God,  to 
fight  our  enemies,  which  are  also  his,  and  to  go 
forth,  taking  possession  of  villages,  cities,  conti- 
nents, the  world,  in  the  name  of  our  Master. 

In  a  large  view,  it  seems  almost  as  if  the  God  of 
salvation  lost  sight  of  the  sick-bed  in  seeking 
children  for  his  household  on  the  earth. 

5.  In  further  proof  that  the  bed  of  sickness  and 


THE  SICK-BED.  23 

death  is  not  a  favorable  place  for  finding  the  sal- 
vation of  God,  we  should  keep  in  mind  the  nature 
of  the  gospel. 

It  is  the  good  news  of  salvation  by  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ.  But  it  is  also  a  collection  of  precious  truths 
to  be  learned,  believed  and  lived.  They  relate  to 
the  being,  the  character  and  the  perfections  of  God  ; 
to  the  spirituality  of  his  law ;  to  the  person,  offices 
and  redemptive  work  of  God's  dear  Sou,  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ ;  to  the  person  and  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  convict  us  of  sin,  to 
quicken  us  together  with  Christ  and  to  persuade  and 
enable  us  to  embrace  him  as  he  is  offered  to  us  in 
the  gospel. 

Here,  therefore,  is  a  call  for  sinful  man  to  hear, 
learn,  believe  and  practice  the  truth.  Happily, 
his  doing  this  does  not  depend  on  the  strength  of 
his  intellect.  I  knew  a  vouno;  man,  hardlv  half- 
witted,  whose  whole  nature  seemed  to  be  demoral- 
ized, if  not  demon ized,  who  was  brought  to  the 
Saviour\s  feet  and  service  under  the  ministry  of 
young  Mr.  Malcom,  a  student  of  this  seminary 
while  I  was  here,  and  made  eminently  helpful  in  a 
great  revival  that  resulted  in  the  salvation  of  many 
souls. 

Still,    it    remains    obviously  true    that   persons 


24  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

weakened,  confused  and  sometimes  demented  by 
diseases  of  the  body  or  tortured  by  severe  pains 
are  not  in  a  favorable  condition  to  receive  instruc- 
tion, or  even  to  listen  to  the  most  winsome  invita- 
tions that  can  be  breathed  into  their  ears. 

6.  A  word  should  be  added  here  about  the  con- 
nection of  the  body  and  the  mind.  They  constitute 
one  person.  Death  parts  them,  but  only  for  a  sea- 
son. Whatever  the  change,  they  will  be  reunited 
in  the  resurrection  at  the  last  day.  Until  death 
they  are  held  together  by  a  tie  never  laid  bare  by 
the  surgeon's  scalpel.  Loosen  the  "silver  cord'' 
and  the  body  returns  to  the  earth  as  it  was,  and  the 
spirit  returns  unto  God  who  gave  it.  Still,  person- 
ality is  not  destroyed,  although  it  is  not  what  it  will 
be  when  the  body  is  raised  and  suited  to  its  new 
conditions — in  light  or  darkness,  with  Christ  where 
he  is,  or  severed  from  him  by  choice  and  by  his 
righteous  judgment. 

How  profound,  therefore,  the  mystery  of  the 
union  of  body  and  spirit  during  this  mortal  life  ! 
'^A  sound  mind  in  a  sound  body"  has  grown  into 
a  proverb.  Its  truth  should  arrest  and  hold  the 
attention  of  every  one  who  watches  for  souls,  and 
of  all  who  are  yet  to  find  the  eternal  life  in  Jesus 
Christ  or  die   in  their  sins. 


THE  SICK-BED.  25 

There  are  some  sicknesses  and  hurts  by  which  the 
nerves  of  sensation  are  so  tortured  that  the  sufferer 
cries  out  in  his  agony  and  cannot  order  his  thoughts 
as  he  would.  Tlie  tenderest  ministry  of  kindred 
and  pastor  utterly  fails  to  find  in  such  a  time  a 
convenient  season  for  urging  or  giving  heed  to  the 
claims  of  the  Saviour.  The  patient  Job  exclaimed, 
"He  breaketh  me  with  breach  upon  breach;  he 
runneth  upon  me  like  a  giant." 

There  are  depressing  diseases  by  which  the  powers 
of  life  are  weakened  almost  to  extinction.  The 
blood  flows  with  feeble  current  through  arteries 
and  veins.  It  may  be  vitiated  by  un healthful  se- 
cretions from  within  or  by  poisons  from  without. 
The  lips  lose  their  color  and  the  eyes  their  lustre. 
The  incubus  of  unnatural  sleep  falls  upon  the  pa- 
tient, and  his  soul  dwells  in  darkness.  He  forgets 
to  eat  his  daily  bread.  You  try  in  vain  to  rouse 
him  by  the  good  news  of  salvation  or  by  any  other 
tidings,  and  in  this  condition  his  body  may  sleep 
its  last  sleep. 

Supposing  him  to  live,  it  is  well  if  the  shadow  of 
an  oj^pressive  melancholy  does  not  fall  upon  him. 
In  his  brightest  moments  the  hope  of  any  change 
for  the  better  may  die  in  his  heart.  I  have  known 
Christians  of  large  experience,  in  these  trying  cir- 


26  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

cumstances,  compelled  to  say  that  if  their  salvation 
depended  upon  the  putting  forth  of  any  effort  to 
receive  the  gospel,  they  must  perish.  They  could 
only  await  the  issue  of  their  sickness  without  fear, 
knowing  whom  they  had  believed,  and  persuaded 
that  he  was  able  to  keep  that  which  they  had  com- 
mitted unto  him  against  the  day  of  their  departure 
and  the  time  of  his  second  coming.  Indeed,  I 
have  been  in  this  condition  myself. 

Some  diseases  excite  and  exhilarate.  Pulmonary 
affections  and  many  fevers  are  apt  to  do  this.  The 
circulation  is  quickened.  The  brain  and  the  whole 
nervous  system  are  roused  to  unwonted  activity. 
The  mind  may  be  surcharged  with  thoughts  that  do 
not  obey  the  laws  of  reason.  The  wildest  delirium 
often  follows,  and  the  patient  lives  for  the  time  in 
a  world  to  which  the  most  intimate  friends  can 
gain  no  access.  It  is  painful  to  witness  the  wan- 
derings of  the  mind  even  when  you  have  reason  to 
believe  that  the  life  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God,  for 
sometimes  they  seem  to  indicate  a  character  the 
very  opposite  of  that  which  you  supposed  belonged 
to  the  sufferer.  It  is  more  than  painful — even  ap- 
palling— to  know  that  in  these  circumstances  per- 
sons who  have  shown  no  signs  of  an  interest  in  the 
Saviour  apparently  become  his  loving  disciples,  and 


THE  SICK-BED.  27 

yet  with  returning  healtli  retain  no  recollection  of 
their  thoughts,  emotions  or  words.  Many  instances 
have  been  related  to  me,  by  pastors  and  physicians, 
of  persons  in  sickness  passing  through  all  the 
stages  of  awakening,  conviction,  conversion  and 
the  joyful  confession  of  Christ  as  their  Saviour, 
and  yet,  on  recovering,  they  have  been  unable 
to  recall  the  facts  of  the  most  recent  past,  and 
have  proved  by  thoir  manner  of  living  afterward 
that  no  saving  change  had  been  wrought  in  them. 
In  one  case,  related  by  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Holt 
Rice,  D.  D.,  then  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  Princeton,  a  young  lady,  the  belle  of  the 
place  (not  Princeton),  a  gay  and  worldly  person, 
was  stricken  with  typhoid  fever.  Dr.  Rice  was  a 
young  pastor  then,  and,  having  been  called  to  visit 
her,  did  so  from  dav  to  dav.  At  last  it  was 
thought  she  must  die.  Believino^  herself  that  the 
end  was  near,  she  called  to  her  bedside  the  members 
of  her  family,  who  knew  the  vain  life  she  had 
lived.  She  told  them  that  she  had  found  peace  in 
believing ;  that  she  believed  her  sins  were  forgiven 
for  Jesus'  sake,  and  that  she  was  about  to  depart  to 
be  for  ever  with  him.  Bidding  them  all  good-bye, 
slie  begged  them  to  meet  her  in  heaven,  and  then 
quietly  waited  for  the  change. 


28  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

Her  pastor  had  no  doubt  that  she  was  a  sinner 
sav^ed  by  grace.  He  parted  with  her  in  the  glad 
hope  of  finding  her  at  last  and  for  ever  among  the 
redeemed  in  heaven.  Calling  the  day  after,  sup- 
posing that  she  had  passed  away,  he  found,  to  his 
surprise,  that  the  crisis  of  her  disease  had  passed 
and  that  she  was  convalescent.  He  thought  it  wise, 
therefore,  to  discontinue  his  daily  visits  for  a  while. 
When  at  last  he  called  and  made  reference  to  the 
change  in  her  views  and  feelings,  he  was  appalled 
to  hear  from  her  own  lips  that  she  had  not  the 
slightest  recollection  of  his  visits  or  of  anything 
she  had  said  leading  him  and  her  family  to  hope 
that  she  was  a  child  of  God.  She  returned  to  her 
old  ways  of  living,  and  not  until  many  years  had 
passed  did  she  earnestly  seek  and,  as  she  hoped,  find 
the  Saviour. 

On  relating  the  particulars  of  this  case  to  an 
aged  Christian  physician,  he  matched  it  by  a  sim- 
ilar case,  hardly  less  striking,  and  reminded  me  that 
in  the  delirium  of  fever  men  and  women  of  whose 
piety  there  is  no  reason  to  have  any  doubt  give 
utterance  to  words  not  at  all  in  keeping  with  their 
real  character. 

7.  I  may  not  pass  without  notice  in  this  connec- 
tion a  fact  which  every  pastor  knows  to  his  sorrow 


THE  SICK-BED.  29 

— that  some  persons  falling  sick,  and  very  anxious 
to  recover,  are  unwilling  to  have  a  word  spoken  to 
them  on  the  subject  of  religion,  or  prayer  offered 
in  their  presence,  because  in  such  services  there  is  a 
suggestion  that  they  may  not  recover.  They  do 
not  consider  that  a  pastor  who  is  wise  and  faithful 
knows  much  of  the  sick-  room,  and  comes  to  them, 
if  not  hindered,  only  for  their  help.  And  they 
may  have  yet  to  learn  that  a  good  hope  of  eternal 
life  is  a  wonderful  remedial  agent  for  the  suffering 
body.  I  am  sorry  to  add  that  some  physicians  do 
not  seem  to  know  this,  and  would  ev^en  exclude  pas- 
tors from  the  rooms  of  their  patients  if  they  could. 
So  we  have  this  anomaly — it  is  worse :  I  believe 
it  is  a  wile  of  the  devil — men  wait  for  sickness, 
proposing  then  to  give  earnest  heed  to  the  truth 
of  God's  word  and  the  salvation  of  their  souls. 
Then,  when  sickness  comes,  they  shrink  from  hear- 
ing the  message  of  salvation  or  the  prayer  of  faith, 
lest  they  should  be  compelled  to  think  that  they 
may  die  and  that  they  are  not  prepared  for  the 
great  change.  So  they  rob  themselves  of  all  oppor- 
tunities of  salvation.  If  they  recover,  they  are  in 
danger  of  being  hardened  in  impenitence  and  un- 
belief. Dying,  they  go  unprepared  into  the  pres- 
ence of  God. 


30  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

8.  It  belongs  to  this  part  of  our  subject  to  make 
brief  refereuce  to  the  well-known  eflPects  of  medi- 
cines on  persons  who  are  sick. 

The  effects  vary  from  the  extreme  of  insensibil- 
ity and  unconsciousness  to  that  of  intense  activity 
of  body  and  vagaries  of  mind. 

Narcotics  produce  effects  of  the  one  kind,  and 
stimulants  those  of  the  other.  In  the  use  of  either 
— and  both  may  be  indispensable  in  opposite  con- 
ditions of  the  body — the  sick  are  unfitted  for  se- 
rious and  continuous  thought  on  the  great  subject 
of  their  salvation  and  the  divinely-appointed  means 
by  Avhich  they  are  to  secure  it.  Indeed,  they  are 
disqualified  for  all  the  ordinary  affairs  of  the  pres- 
ent life.  If  persons  have  lived  without  Christ 
until  smitten  with  their  last  sickness,  and  are  then 
stupefied  with  narcotics  or  excited  by  stimulants, 
they  cannot  be  instructed  out  of  the  Scriptures 
while  in  either  of  these  two  conditions  of  body  and 
mind.  The  effort,  however,  should  be  made  at 
times  of  greatest  promise,  and  much  prayer  should 
be  offered  in  their  behalf.  The  result  may  not  be 
known  till  the  great  day  reveals  it.  It  is  wrong  to 
relax  effort  w^hile  life  lasts. 

9.  I  conclude  this  part  of  my  lecture  with  the 
statement  of  a  fact  verified  by  numerous  pastors — 


THE  SICK-BED.  31 

to  wit,  that  of  those  who  profess  to  have  found 
Christ  on  a  sick-bed,  and  afterward  recover,  not  one 
in  a  hundred — hardly  more  than  one  in  a  thousand 
— consents  to  be  numbered  among  the  confessors  of 
Christ.  I  do  not  inchide  in  this  sad  estimate  the 
many  who  are  akirmed  by  the  seeming  approach  of 
death,  and  express  their  sorrow  for  misspent  years, 
making  solemn  promise  of  amendment  in  case  they 
recover.  A  promise  of  this  kind  is  an  easy  expe- 
dient for  cahning  a  troubled  conscience.  A  de- 
ceived and  deceitful  heart  can  hardly  do  worse.  In 
effect  it  is  the  present  rejection  of  the  living  Christ 
who  waits  to  be  gracious.  One  cannot  be  too  ear- 
nest and  persistent  in  telling  those  who  propose  to 
do  hereafter  Avhat  they  are  not  willing  to  do  at 
once  that  "  Now  is  the  accepted  time ;  behold,  now 
is  the  day  of  salvation." 

In  the  intervals  of  pain  caused  by  acute  disease 
and  the  depression  or  excitement  consequent  upon 
the  use  of  remedies  of  different  kinds,  the  words  of 
the  glorified  Christ,  spoken  in  the  demonstration  of 
the  Spirit  and  of  power  by  a  loving  pastor  or  friend, 
may  reach  the  heart :  "  Behold,  I  stand  at  the  door 
and  knock  ;  if  any  man  hear  my  voice  and  open  the 
door,  I  will  come  in  to  him,  and  will  sup  with  him 
and  he  with  me.'' 


32  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

The  distinction  between  the  sick-bed  and  the 
death-bed  is  easily  recognized.  In  one  case  the 
patient  recovers  and  returns  to  the  scenes  of  his  for- 
mer life  ;  in  the  other  he  passes  away,  and  the  places 
that  once  knew  him  know  him  no  more  for  ever. 

It  is  true  that  diseases  and  medicines  may  have 
precisely  the  same  effect  in  the  two  cases.  Mortal 
sickness  is  often  attended  bv  weakness  and  illusions 
of  the  mind  quite  as  serious  as  any  connected  with 
diseases  from  which  persons  recover.  So,  too,  the 
instructions,  invitations  and  promises  of  Scripture 
may  be  as  unintelligible  to  persons  sick  unto  death 
as  to  those  who  continue  in  life. 

From  these  and  other  facts  and  considerations  a 
very  sad  and  often  unwarrantable  conclusion  is 
drawn — to  wit,  that  because  those  who  profess 
conversion  on  beds  of  sickness  and  recover  are 
in  most  cases  mistaken  in  their  hopes  and  profes- 
sions, therefore  those  who  make  the  like  profession 
and  die  find  themselves  without  God  and  without 
hope  in  the  other  world.  This  is  not  a  warrant- 
able conclusion.  It  utterlv  fails  to  reco2:nize  the 
difference  in  the  two  cases.  And  because  it  seems 
to  be  the  conclusion  of  great  and  good  men  I  am 
the  more  anxious  to  mark  the  difference  which  is 
so  often  overlooked. 


THE  DEATH-BED.  33 

1.  The  difference  relates  to  the  two  classes  of 
persons. 

Those  who  recover  from  their  sickness  have  the 
opportunity  of  correcting  mistakes  and  verifying 
results.  If  they  have  professed  conversion,  and, 
on  recovering  health,  find  their  hearts  still  turned 
away  from  God,  they  have  strong  motives  for  ask- 
ing that  they  may  be  turned  toward  him  by  his 
saving  grace. 

If  they  have  made  promises  of  reformation  in 
case  of  recovery,  and  are  disinclined  or  unable 
to  break  off  their  sins  by  righteousness,  and  there- 
fore continue  in  their  old-time  unbelief  and  trans- 
gressions, they  have  a  most  impressive  lesson  on  the 
deceitfulness  and  desperate  wickedness  of  their  hearts, 
and  yet  are  mercifully  spared  to  profit  by  the  lesson. 
In  many  instances  they  do  at  last  seek  and  find  the 
salvation  of  God,  as  did  the  young  lady  of  whom 
Dr.  Rice  told  me. 

But  no  such  opportunity  remains  to  those  who 
die.  If  they  are  deceived,  their  day  of  salvation, 
we  believe,  is  closed.  Certainly  no  day  of  deliver- 
ance in  the  near  or  distant  future  is  revealed.  Even 
those  who  teach  probation  after  death,  and  hate  the 
doctrine  of  any  judgment  that  decides  and  so  fixes 
human  destiny  at  death,  are  not  understood  to  open 


34  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

a  door  of  hope  to  those  who  die  in  Christendom, 
whatever  they  may  do  for  those  who  have  never 
read  or  heard  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God  in 
this  life. 

2.  The  difference  is  hardly  less  patent  and  im- 
pressive in  relation  to  the  friends  of  the  two  classes. 
It  is  a  painful  surprise  to  a  pastor  or  to  any  one 
who  has  heard  the  words  of  the  sick  telling  of  peace 
and  hope  and  heaven,  and  calling  upon  kindred  to 
meet  them  in  the  presence  of  Christ,  to  be  told  by 
the  persons  themselves,  a  few  days  later,  that  they 
have  no  recollection  of  anything  that  occurred,  or 
of  words  spoken  by  them  or  to  them,  and  to  find 
that  in  character  and  life  they  are  what  they  were 
before  the  sickness. 

Or  if  they  have  only  promised  reformation  if 
God  would  spare  them,  the  surprise  is  hardly  less 
painful  to  know  that  their  pledge  has  no  binding 
force  with  them — that  their  words  spoken  to  friends 
and  in  the  ear  of  God  have  no  power  against  old 
habits  of  evil. 

Very  different  is  the  case  of  those  who,  having 
professed  repentance,  faith  and  hope,  or  with  appar- 
ent solemnity  and  sincerity  promised  a  new  life  in 
the  service  of  Christ  and  their  fellows,  die,  their 
spirits  returning  unto  God  who  gave  them. 


THE  DEATH-BED.  35 

A  young  lady  of  exceptional  intelligence,  a 
teacher  of  high  grade,  with  whom  I  had  held 
very  interesting  conversations  about  the  salvation 
of  her  soul,  when  near  death  drew  her  mother's 
ear  close  to  her  trembling  lips,  and  said  in  a  whis- 
per,  "  If   I   recover,   I  wish   to   unite   with 

Church ''  (naming  one  that  was  not  the  church,  or 
even  the  denomination,  of  her  family).  That  wish 
— never  gratified,  for  she  soon  died — was  an  un- 
speakable consolation  to  her  Christian  parents  and 
to  all  who  knew  and  loved  her.  We  can  neither 
verify  nor  disprove  the  change  in  her  that  her 
words  implied  until  we  go  ourselves  into  the 
other  world;  and  possibly  not  even  then. 

But  while  it  comforts  us  greatly  to  think  that 
her  words  to  her  mother  revealed  a  change  which, 
up  to  that  time,  had  not  been  known,  we  take  no 
hurt  ourselves  and  do  no  harm  to  her.  Nor  do 
we  think  her  case  exceptional.  Many  children  of 
Christian  parents,  and  others  who  have  had  the 
care  of  the  Church,  come  to  the  consciousness  of 
need  and  the  hope  of  salvation  on  beds  of  death. 
3.  The  difference  between  the  two  classes  of  per- 
sons so  often  referred  to,  as  they  are  related  to  God, 
is  too  great  for  us  to  understand.  We  may  rever- 
ently think  and  speak  of  it. 


36  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

That  some  should  live  and  others  die  depends 
upon  the  will  of  God.  Life  and  death  are  not 
accidents.  Our  times  are  in  his  hands,  the  num- 
ber of  our  months  is  with  him.  If  life  is  threat- 
ened and  not  taken,  God  spares  it.  If  it  is  cut 
off  by  disease  or  calamity,  we  are  taught  to  say, 
*•  Thou  turnest  man  to  destruction,  and  sayest,  Re- 
turn, ve  children  of  men."  Is  it  not  like  God  to 
spare  the  guilty  who  are  self-deceived ;  to  let  them 
live  that  they  may  come  to  the  knowledge  of  them- 
selves and  lay  hold  of  eternal  life ;  at  least  to  give 
them  further  opportunity  to  know,  every  one,  the 
plague  of  his  own  heart,  and  the  healing  of  the 
plague  by  the  grace  and  blood,  the  word  and  Spirit, 
of  the  living  Christ?  And  is  it  not  in  perfect  keep- 
ing with  what  we  know  by  revelation  of  the  love 
of  God  that  he  should  desire  to  have  his  dear  chil- 
dren with  him,  and  that  he  should  call  them  hence 
when  he  knows  it  is  safe  to  do  so  ?  The  ques- 
tions are  his  own :  "  Have  I  any  pleasure  at  all 
that  the  wicked  should  die  ?  saith  the  Lord  God, 
and  not  that  he  should  return  from  his  ways  and 
live?'^  We  take  him  at  his  word.  Not  more 
surely  have  we  hope  for  the  penitent  robber,  who 
went  from  the  cross  to  paradise  in  reliance  on  the 
sure  word  of  Jesus,  than  for  many  who  go  from 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE   WICKED.  37 

the  bed  of  death  beyond  our  sight,  mourning  for 
their  sin,  freely  making  confession  and  rejoicing 
that  they  have  found  the  Saviour,  and  eternal  life 
in  him,  though  in  their  last  hours. 

In  any  case  the  difference  of  which  I  speak  is  so 
great  that  those  who  minister  to  the  sick,  not  know- 
ing whether  they  are  to  recover  or  not,  have  no 
right  to  be  indifferent  or  hopeless  because  they 
may  have  seen  many  recover  and  make  void  all 
their  professions  and  promises. 

At  best  the  sick-bed  is  not  favorable  to  thought 
and  feeling  and  decision  in  relation  to  the  tilings  of 
God  and  the  eternal  life  which  is  his  gift  in  Jesus 
Christ.  But  it  often  proves  to  be  the  only  place 
remaining  to  the  sick,  and  we  should  act  intelli- 
gently, prayerfully,  persistently  and  hopefully  on 
the  supposition  that  it  is. 

As  an  incentive  to  the  wise  and  faithful  treat- 
ment of  the  sick  and  dying,  of  which  I  hope  to 
speak  particularly  in  the  last  lecture,  I  give  here 
some  of  the  contrasted  experiences  of  the  wicked 
and  the  righteous.  In  both  cases  there  are  great 
varieties. 

Some  who  die  in  their  sins  verify  the  words  of 
Scripture  :  ^'  Terrors  take  hold  on  him  as  waters, 
a  tempest  stealeth  him  away  in  the  night.      The 


38  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

east  wiDcI  carrieth  him  away,  and  he  departeth  : 
and  as  a  storm  hurleth  him  out  of  his  place.  For 
God  shall  cast  upon  him  and  not  spare ;  he  would 
fain  flee  out  of  his  hand  f  *^  This  is  the  portion  of  a 
wicked  man  with  God  ;''  "  The  wicked  is  driven 
away  in  his  wickedness  f  "  If  ye  believe  not  that 
I  am  he,  said  Jesus,  ye  shall  die  in  your  sins/' 

So  I  have  seen  an  ungodly  man  come  to  his  death. 
He  had  lived  without  God  in  the  world.  A  lovely 
daughter,  dying  in  the  faith  of  Christ  in  my  pres- 
ence, called  him  to  her  side  and  secured  from  him 
the  promise  that  he  would  attend  the  Sunday  ser- 
vices of  the  church  where  she  had  found  peace  in 
believing.  For  two  or  three  Sundays  he  did  so, 
and  then  relapsed  into  his  old  ways.  Suddenly, 
after  two  or  three  years  of  persistent  violation  of 
his  promise,  he  was  summoned  to  his  death.  I  was 
sent  for  in  great  haste,  and  found  him  in  sore  pain 
of  body  and  agony  of  mind.  All  that  I  could  do 
was  to  speak  a  few  words  of  instruction  and  invita- 
tion from  God's  word  and  offer  prayer.  But  he 
died  as  he  had  lived,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  with- 
out a  ray  of  light. 

I  will  not  utter  the  fearful  words  of  maliVnant 
rage  that  have  fallen  from  human  lips  in  dying 
moments.     Some  resist  death  as  long  as  possible. 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE   WICKED.  39 

and  openly  declare  that  they  will  not  die.  I  have 
in  remembrance  the  case  of  a  comparatively  young 
lawyer  who  almost  defied  death,  and  boldly  pro- 
claimed his  determination  to  live. 

I  have  known  a  man  to  spend  his  last  strength 
in  trying  to  strike  a  Christian  minister  who  strove 
to  lead  him  to  Christ.  A  young  woman  of  high 
social  position  and  many  accomplishments  utterly 
refused  all  the  offices  of  a  kind  pastor,  under  the 
awful  conviction  that  she  had  destroyed  her  own 
soul ;  and  she  gave  utterance  in  lier  last  hours  to 
the  direst  hatred  of  the  blessed  Redeemer. 

Francesco  Speira  professed  the  evangelical  faith 
in  the  days  of  the  Reformation  under  Luther ;  but 
he  afterward  abjured  it,  and  became  the  prey  of 
remorseful  despair  until  he  died.  The  intolerable 
conviction  that  he  was  for  ever  lost  caused  him  at 
times  to  roar  like  a  beast,  and  yet  in  his  despair  he 
could  not  repent ;  and  so  he  left  the  world. 

Some  of  "the  wicked  have  no  bands  in  their 
death.''  They  have  their  good  things  in  this  life, 
and  make  no  provision  for  the  life  to  come.  Judg- 
ing themselves  as  good  as  their  neighbors,  and  bet- 
ter than  some  confessors  of  Christ,  they  die — regret- 
fully, but  not  in  despair,  for  God  gives  them  strong 
delusions  to  believe  a  lie. 


40  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

Others — ^and  they  are  many — die  in  a  moment, 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.  They  are  on  sliipboard, 
and  go  down  into  the  depths  when  the  cyclone 
smites  them  ;  or  on  the  cars  in  the  wreck  or  the 
flames ;  or  their  hearts  fail  as  they  sit  among  their 
kindred  or  walk  the  streets  or  pursue  their  callings 
or  their  pleasures.  And  many  fall  in  the  deadly 
strife  of  arms,  covered  with  martial  glory,  honored 
of  men,  but  utterly  destitute  of  holiness,  without 
which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord. 

But  there  is  a  class  of  persons  of  whom  I  shall 
have  something  hopeful  to  say  in  the  next  lecture. 
They  are  in  very  close  relation  to  the  people  of 
God.  Children  of  the  covenant,  they  have  borne 
the  sign  and  seal  of  the  righteousness  of  faith  from 
infancy.  Or,  if  this  is  not  the  case,  they  belong  to 
Christian  households.  From  childhood  thev  have 
been  taught  the  truths  of  Scripture  by  believing 
parents  and  have  been  claimed  for  God.  Coming  to 
their  death  by  sudden  calamity  or  after  short  sick- 
ness, they  deeply  feel  their  need  of  Christ,  and  may 
not  be  classed  with  those  who  have  no  hope  in  their 
death. 

I  close  this  lecture  with  a  delightful  theme — the 
Death  of  the  Righteous.  "  Precious  in  the  sight  of 
the  Lord  is  the  death  of  his  saints.^' 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS.  41 

Aarox  died  in  Mt.  Hor,  aud  was  gathered  unto 
his  people. 

It  was  made  the  duty  of  Moses  to  go  up  into 
Mt.  Nebo  and  die,  and  be  gathered  unto  his  peo- 
ple ;  but  he  was  allowed  first  to  see  the  good  land 
that  God  was  about  to  give  to  the  children  of 
Israel. 

Stephen,  the  first  Christian  martyr,  stood  before 
the  council  that  condemned  him,  and  they  saw  his 
face  as  it  had  been  the  face  of  an  angel.  Cut  to 
the  heart  by  liis  words  of  truth,  they  gnashed  on 
him  witli  their  teeth.  '^But  he  being  full  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  looked  up  steadfastly  into  heaven, 
and  saw  the  glory  of  God,  and  Jesus  standing  on 
the  right  hand  of  God."  As  the  stones  smote  him 
he  called  upon  God  and  said,  "  Lord  Jesus,  receive 
my  spirit.'^  Even  after  this  "  he  kneeled  down 
and  cried  with  a  loud  voice.  Lord,  lay  not  this  sin 
to  their  charge.  And  when  he  had  said  this,  he 
fell  asleep."  "  He  fell  asleep" — language  that  our 
Saviour  authorizes  us  to  use  in  speaking  of  the 
Christian's  decease.  "  Our  friend  Lazarus  sleepeth, 
but  I  go  that  I  may  awake  him  out  of  sleep."  And 
therefore  St.  Paul  wrote,  "  If  we  believe  that  Jesus 
died  and  rose  again,  even  so  them  also  that  sleep  in 
Jesus  will  God  bring  with  him." 


42  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

In  anticipatioi]  of  his  own  martyrdom,  Paul  wrote 
these  brave  words  to  Timothy,  his  own  son  in  the 
faith :  "  I  am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the 
time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have  fought 
a  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have 
kept  the  faith  :  henceforth  there  is  laid  up  for  me 
a  crown  of  righteousness,  which  the  Lord,  the 
righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  at  that  day ;  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  unto  all  them  also  that  love 
his  appearing.'^ 

PoLYCARP,  who  died  in  the  flames  of  martyr- 
dom A.  D.  155,  is  reported  to  have  exclaimed,  "O 
Father  of  thy  beloved  and  blessed  Son  Jesus 
Christ !  O  God  of  all  principalities  and  of  all  crea- 
tion !  I  bless  thee  that  thou  hast  counted  me  worthy 
of  this  day  and  this  hour,  to  receive  my  portion  in 
the  number  of  the  martyrs,  in  the  cup  of  Christ/' 

John  Owen,  author  of  many  standard  works, 
and  among  them  The  Person  and  Glory  of  Christy 
was  born  1616,  and  died  near  London  in  1683. 
^'  Oh,  Brother  Payne,"  he  said,  ^'  the  long-looked- 
for  day  is  come  at  last,  in  w^hich  I  shall  see  the 
glory  in  another  manner  thau  I  have  ever  yet 
done  or  been  capable  of  doiug." 

Thomas  Halyburton,  professor  of  divinity  in 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  died  there  A.  D. 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS.  43 

1712.  On  his  death-bed  he  testified,  "Here  is  a 
demonstration  of  the  reality  of  religion,  that  I,  a 
poor,  weak,  timorous  man,  as  much  afraid  of  death 
as  any,  am  now  enabled,  by  the  power  of  grace, 
composedly  and  with  joy  to  look  death  in  the  face." 

Richard  Cecil,  born  1748  and  dying  1810, 
gave  this  testimony:  "My  first  convictions  on  the 
subject  of  religion  [he  was  once  an  infidel]  were 
confirmed  by  observing  that  really  religious  persons 
had  some  solid  happiness  among  them,  which  I  felt 
the  vanities  of  the  world  could  not  give.  I  shall 
never  forget  standing  by  the  bedside  of  my  sick 
mother.  "  Are  vou  not  afraid  to  die  ?"  I  asked. 
"  No !  no  !''  was  her  reply.  "  Why  does  the  un- 
certainty of  another  life  give  you  no  concern?"  I 
asked.  She  answered,  "Because  God  has  said, 
^  Fear  not ;  when  thou  passest  through  the  waters, 
I  will  be  with  thee;  and  through  the  rivers,  they 
shall  not  overflow  thee.^  "  He  adds,  "  Let  me  die 
the  death  of  the  righteous." 

John  Wesley,  the  founder  of  Methodism  (1703- 
1797),  closed  his  long  and  useful  life  with  these 
words :  "  The  best  of  all  is,  God  is  with  us." 

Thomas  Scott  (1747-1821),  shortly  before  his 
departure,  said,  "  This  is  heaven  begun.  I  have 
done  with  darkness  for  ever,  for  ever.     Satan  is 


44  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM, 

vanquished ;  nothing   now   remains   but   salvation 
with  eternal  glory.'^ 

Mes.  Elizabeth  Harvey,  the  wife  of  a  mis- 
sionary in  Bombay,  exclaimed,  "If  this  is  the 
dark  valley,  it  has  not  a  dark  spot  in  it.  All  is 
light,  light/' 

Wanting  words  to  express  her  views  of  the  maj- 
esty and  glory  of  Christ,  she  added,  "It  seems 
that  if  all  other  glory  were  annihilated,  and  noth- 
ing left  but  his  bare  self,  it  would  be  enough ;  it 
would  be  a  universe  of  glory." 

So  we  are  reminded  of  blessed  Rutherford's 
words,  in  one  of  his  charming  letters :  "  Heaven 
and  Christ  are  the  same  thing." 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Edward  Payson  (1783- 
1827)  of  Portland,  Maine,  is  remarkable  for  its 
clearness,  comprehensiveness  and  preciousness. 
Few  persons,  after  living,  as  he  did,  in  glad,  some- 
times melancholy,  yet  always  intense  devotion  to 
the  service  of  Christ  and  his  Church  and  cause,  are 
permitted  to  say  much  on  the  bed  of  death.  Like 
his  brother  Henry,  a  ruling  elder  of  our  church 
when  I  became  its  pastor  in  1850,  he  was  of  a  ner- 
vous temperament,  and  suffered  often  from  deep 
depression  of  spirit.  Dr.  Payson  is  said  to  have 
spoken  thus  at  different  times  on  his  death-bed  : 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS.  45 

"  My  God  is  in  this  room.  I  see  him,  and  oh, 
how  lovely  is  the  sight !  How  glorious  does  he  ap- 
pear !  worthy  of  ten  thousand  hearts,  if  I  had  so 
many  to  give !" 

At  another  time,  when  his  body  was  racked  with 
inconceivable  pain,  he  exclaimed,  as  if  returning 
from  a  field  of  conflict  and  victory,  "  The  battle's 
fought !  the  battle's  fought !  and  the  victory  is  won ; 
the  victory  is  won  for  ever !  I  am  going  to  bathe  in  an 
ocean  of  purity  and  benevolence  and  happiness  to  all 
eternity.  .  .  .  The  celestial  city  is  in  full  view ;  its 
glories  beam  upon  me ;  its  breezes  fan  me ;  its  odors 
are  wafted  to  me ;  its  music  strikes  upon  my  ear, 
and  its  spirit  breathes  into  my  heart.  Nothing 
separates  me  from  it  but  the  river  of  death,  which 
now  appears  as  a  narrow  rill  which  may  be  crossed 
at  a  single  step  whenever  God  shall  give  permis- 
sion. .  .  .  The  Sun  of  righteousness  has  been  draw- 
ing nearer  and  nearer,  appearing  larger  and  larger 
as  he  approached,  and  now  he  fills  the  hemisphere, 
pouring  forth  a  flood  of  glory,  in  which  I  seem  to 
float  like  an  insect  in  the  beams  of  the  sun,  exult- 
ing, yet  almost  trembling,  while  I  gaze  on  excessive 
brightness,  and  wondering,  with  unutterable  wonder, 
why  God  should  deign  thus  to  shine  upon  a  sinful 
worm." 


46  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

The  Eev.  Eichard  W,  Dickinson,  D.  D.,  of 
Ford  ham,  N.  Y.,  with  his  family  about  him,  look- 
ing heavenward  and  reaching  out  his  arms  as  if  to 
embrace  the  Saviour  coming  to  receive  him  to  him- 
self, simply  said,  ^'  My  crucified  and  risen  Lord  V^ 

Mortimer  Strong,  a  deacon  of  our  church, 
raised  himself  up  in  the  bed,  and  with  firm  voice 
and  deepest  emotion  exclaimed, 

"  Lend,  lend  your  wings.     I  mount,  I  fly. 
O  Death,  where  is  thy  sting  ?  O  Grave,  where  is  thy  victory  ?" 

And,  finally,  the  Eev.  Charles  Hodge,  D  D., 
whom  so  many  of  us  knew  and  honored  and  loved, 
"  seeing  his  widowed  daughter  weeping  while  she 
watched  him,  stretched  his  hand  toward  her  and 
said,  ^Why  should  you  grieve,  daughter?  To  be 
absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  with  the  Lord ;  to  be 
with  the  Lord  is  to  see  the  Lord ;  to  see  the  Lord 
is  to  be  like  him ! ' 

"  To  a  loving  inquiry  of  his  wife  he  once  said, 
'  Yes,  my  love,  my  Saviour  is  with  me  every  step 
of  the  way ;  but  I  am  too  weak  to  talk  about  it/ 
Once  she  asked  him  if  it  would  comfort  him  if  she 
should  repeat  aloud  his  favorite  hymn.  He  an- 
swered, ^  No,  dearest ;  I  am  repeating  it  over  and 
over  again  to  myself  all  the  while.' " 


THE  DEATH  OF  THE  RIGHTEOUS.  47 

It  was  the  hymn  of  Mrs.  Weiss,  daughter  of  the 
Arclibishop  of  Dublin,  composed  on  her  death-bed. 

I  make  record  of  the  entire  hvmn  as  revealinof 
the  dying  thoughts  of  the  great  and  good  man  so 
long  professor  in  this  seminary : 

Jesus,  I  am  never  weary 

When  upon  this  bed  of  pain ; 
If  thy  presence  only  cheer  me, 

All  my  loss  I  count  but  gain. 
Ever  near  me, 

Ever  near  me,  Lord,  remain  ! 

Dear  ones  come  with  fruit  and  flowers, 
Thus  to  cheer  my  heart  the  while, 

In  these  deeply  anxious  hours. 
Oh,  if  Jesus  only  smile  ! 

Only  Jesus 
Can  these  trembling  fears  beguile. 

All  my  sins  were  laid  upon  thee, 

All  my  griefs  were  on  thee  laid ; 
For  the  blood  of  thine  atonement 

All  my  utmost  debt  has  paid. 
Dearest  Saviour ! 

I  believe,  for  thou  hast  said. 

Dearest  Saviour !  go  not  from  me  ; 

Let  thy  presence  still  abide ; 
Look  in  tenderest  love  upon  me : 

I  am  sheltering  at  thy  side. 
Dearest  Saviour ! 

"Who  for  suffering  sinners  died. 


48  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM, 

Both  mine  arms  are  clasped  around  thee, 
And  my  head  is  on  thy  breast, 

And  my  weary  soul  has  found  thee 
Such  a  perfect,  -perfect  rest. 

Dearest  Saviour ! 
Now  I  know  that  I  am  blessed. 


LECTURE  II. 

Salvation  possible,  ant)  in  man^  cases 
probable,  on  tbe  Beatb^BeD* 


LECTURE   II. 

SALVATION  POSSIBLE,  AND  IN  3IANr  CASES 
PROBABLE,    ON  THE  DEATH-BED. 

A  T  first  thought  it  may  seem  to  be  a  waste  of  time 
to  state  aud  prove  what  none  holding  to  the 
truth  of  Scripture  will  deny.  But  there  are  some — 
I  hope  Dot  mauy — who  have  do  coDtrolliDg  belief 
that  the  lost  may  be  found  aud  saved  in  the  last 
hours  of  a  siDful  aud  wasted  life.  A  Christian 
pastor  told  me  that  his  experieDce  with  DiaDy  who 
professed  to  fiDd  Christ  as  their  Saviour,  or  prom- 
ised ameudmeDt  of  life  if  God  would  spare  them, 
while  OD  beds  of  sickDess,  and  afterward  recovered, 
was  so  dishearteniDg  that  he  had  ceased  to  make 
special  eiforts  for  the  salvation  of  the  sick.  A 
very  sad  mistake  !  Worse  tlian  a  mistake  !  While 
there  is  life  there  is  hope.  James  M.  Campbell,  in 
his  little  book,  Unto  the  Uttermost,  has  well  said  of 
the  Christian  ambassador,  "  Down  to  the  dying 
moment  he  is  to  stand  beside  the  sinner,  telling  of 
the  mercy  that  stoops  to  receive  the  fragments  of 
a  wasted  life;  telling  of  the  blood  of  sprinkling, 

61 


52  THE  PASTOR  W  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

and  challeuging  earth  and  hell  to  show  a  sin  it 
cannot  cleanse."  * 

The  difference  between  recovering  from  sickness 
to  prove  one's  profession  false,  and  dying  possibly 
to  prove  it  true,  we  have  already  seen,  is  too  great 
for  the  human  mind  to  compass. 

There  are  two  extremes,  to  one  or  other  of  which 
we  tend  in  relation  to  those  for  whose  souls  we 
watch,  especially  when  the  circumstances  are  pecu- 
liarly trying :  one  is  presumption,  and  the  other 
despair.  And  to  one  or  other  of  these  extremes 
the  unsaved  are  in  danger  of  being  driven  in  times 
of  severe  and  deadly  sickness. 

"Men  of  the  world,"  as  we  are  w^ont  to  call 
them,  busy  with  the  affairs,  the  ambitions,  the 
pleasures  of  this  life,  if  they  allow  themselves  to 
think  seriously  of  the  life  to  come,  hope  to  have 
leisure  and  disposition  to  prepare  for  that  other  life 
when  they  have  achieved  success  or  when  the  solem- 
nities of  the  last  sickness  are  upon  and  around  them. 
This  is  presumption. 

When  the  leisure  of  retirement  from  active  bus- 
iness is  theirs,  the  disposition  and  ability  for  the 
mightiest  of  all  human  enterprises,  the  laying  hold 

*  The  book  carefully  read  is  helpful ;  but  there  is  much  in 
it  I  cannot  receive  as  true. 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  53 

of  eternal  life,  are  seldom  given  them.  And  when 
sickness  comes,  with  its  pains  and  exhaustion,  its 
distraction  and  fear  of  death,  the  necessity  of  sub- 
mitting to  medical  treatment,  and,  it  may  be,  the 
careful  exclusion  from  their  presence  of  all  who 
would  speak  to  them  of  Christ  and  the  great  salva- 
tion,— if  they  retain  reason  and  consciousness  they 
begin  to  recognize  the  difficulties  in  their  way,  and 
may  go  to  the  other  extreme,  sinking  into  hopeless 
despondency,  the  sinful  despair  of  unbelief. 

While  not  forgetting  that  the  general  drift  of 
Bible  teaching  and  divine  providence,  with  the 
main  facts  of  human  experience,  is  strongly  against 
the  delav  of  conversion  until  sickness  comes,  we 
should  fortifv  ourselves  with  strons:  reasons  for 
believing  that  conversion,  and  therefore  salvation, 
is  possible  when  death  is  near. 

1.  One  of  these  reasons  is  the  nature  of  con- 
version. 

I  use  the  word  "conversion"  in  the  popular 
sense,  as  including  the  regeneration  of  the  sinner 
by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  his  consequent  turning 
unto  God  throuo;h  Jesus  Christ.  In  this  view  it 
comprehends  effectual  calling,  faith  in  at  least  its 
first  act  of  looking  unto  Jesus,  and  repentance,  the 
two  graces  last  named  rooting  themselves  in  the  first. 


54  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

The  Westminster  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism 
is  helpful  here,  for  its  definitions  are  not  only 
Scriptural,  but  clear  as  crystal,  and  they  set  no 
limit  to  the  saving  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
while  the  earthly  life  continues : 

"  Effectual  calling  is  the  work  of  God's  Spirit, 
whereby,  convincing  us  of  our  sin  and  misery,  en- 
lightening our  minds  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ, 
and  renewing  our  wills,  he  doth  persuade  and 
enable  us  to  embrace  Jesus  Christ,  freely  offered 
to  us  in  the  gospel." 

"  Faith  in  Jesus  Christ  is  a  saving  grace,  whereby 
we  receive  and  rest  upon  him  alone  for  salvation,  as 
he  is  offered  to  us  in  the  gospel." 

"  Repentance  unto  life  is  a  saving  grace,  whereby 
a  sinner,  out  of  a  true  sense  of  his  sin,  and  appre- 
hension of  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ,  doth,  with 
grief  and  hatred  of  his  sin,  turn  from  it  unto  God, 
with  full  purpose  of,  and  endeavor  after,  new  obe- 
dience." 

Rarely  as  this  may  be  thought  to  occur,  it  is  quite 
within  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  grace 
of  God  on  a  death-bed.  The  effectual  calling  or 
the  new  creation  of  a  lost  sinner  is  always,  we  be- 
lieve, the  instantaneous  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Saving  faith  and  repentance  follow.      The  sinner 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  55 

is  passive  iu  tlie  birth  from  above.  He  may  have 
in  his  mind  aud  lieart  the  word  of  God  as  the 
iiistrumeDt  by  means  of  which  the  work  is  effected, 
and  yet  not  know  when  or  how  the  great  change  is 
wrought.  ^'  The  wind  bloweth  where  it  listeth,  and 
thou  hearest  the  sound  thereof,  but  canst  not  tell 
whence  it  cometh  and  whither  it  goeth  ;  so  is  every 
one  that  is  born  of  the  Spirit.'^ 

Even  if  a  sinner  on  his  death-bed  is  indifferent 
or  presumptuous  or  despairing,  others  who  love  his 
soul  may  be  prayerful  and  importunate  in  seeking 
his  salvation.  In  that  case  it  may  please  God  that 
the  blessing  shall  come  as  to  the  paralytic  borne  by 
others  and  laid  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  for  healing. 

If  you  are  ministering  to  the  sufferer,  you  may 
be  gratefully  surprised  to  see  the  proofs  of  the 
Holy  Spirit's  presence  and  saving  power  in  his 
agitation,  in  his  new  views  of  sin  and  righteousness 
and  judgment ;  in  his  sorrow  for  his  sinfulness  and 
transgressions,  of  which,  at  last,  he  has  begun  to 
take  account  as  in  God's  presence ;  in  his  confession, 
his  godly  sorrow,  his  prayer  for  pardon  and  his 
humble  and  glad  reliance  upon  Christ  as  his  Saviour 
and  Master.  The  agitation  of  the  trees  of  the  wood 
and  the  lifting  up  of  the  great  waves  of  the  sea  are 
not  stronger  proof  that  the  winds  are  abroad  than 


56  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

such  chaDges  in  a  sinner  are  proof  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  begun  the  work  of  his  salvation.  And 
we  ouglit  to  be  quick  to  recognize  the  work  for 
which  we  have  wrought  earnestly  with  God  and 
faithfully  with  man. 

The  analogy  of  all  creative  acts  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge  strengthens  our  belief  that  the  be- 
ginning of  this  saving  work  is  instantaneous.  "  God 
spake  and  it  was  done ;  he  commanded  and  it  stood 
fast."  He  said,  "  Let  light  be/^  and  light  was. 
And  as  if  on  purpose  to  associate  the  two  creative 
acts  in  our  minds,  we  have  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  by  the  Apostle :  "  God,  who  commanded 
the  lio;ht  to  shine  out  of  darkness,  hath  shined  in 
our  hearts  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of 
the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ.'^ 
The  principle  of  the  new  life  is  given  to  the  sinner, 
dead  in  trespasses  and  sins,  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
and  in  the  use  of  some  portion  of  the  word  of 
reconciliation.  Whether  the  eartldy  life  after  that 
is  measured  by  years  or  moments,  salvation  is  sure. 
All  else  follows  in  a  revealed  and,  so  far  as  we 
know,  a  changeless  order.  "  \Yhom  he  did  pre- 
destinate, them  he  also  called  ;  and  whom  he  called, 
them  he  also  justified  ;  and  whom  he  justified,  them 
he  also  glorified."    Justification,  adoption  and  sane- 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  57 

tification  are  the  fruitage  of  regeneration.  They 
come  as  the  blade,  the  ear  and  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear  from  the  precious  seed  which  God  quickens  to 
a  plenteous  harvest. 

The  process  may  be  miraculously,  and  of  course 
graciously,  quick,  reminding  us  how  easily  and  in- 
stantly, in  one  case,  by  the  will  and  word  of  Jesus, 
water  was  converted  into  \\\Q  best  of  wine.  In  all 
ordinary  cases  there  must  be  the  vine,  the  fruitful 
season,  the  leaf,  the  blossom,  the  clusters  of  juicy 
grapes,  the  wine-press  or  the  treading  of  feet,  the 
wine-vat,  the  wine-cellar  and  the  long  years  before 
the  water  becomes  the  beverage  that  men  thirst  for 
and  enjoy. 

2.  There  are  well-authenticated  cases  of  conver- 
sion with  death  in  immediate  prospect,  but  averted 
at  the  last  moment,  and  giving  the  convert  the  priv- 
ileo;e  of  bearino;  witness  for  himself. 

I  have  Ion 2:  been  familiar  with  a  well-authen- 
ticated  case  of  this  kind.  A  young  man  from  the 
city  of  New  York  was  lost  overboard  in  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  Sinking  beneath  the  waters,  he  soon 
became  unconscious,  and  in  that  condition  was  res- 
cued and  after  a  time  resuscitated.  The  account  he 
gave  on  coming  back  to  life,  and  afterward,  was  of 
great  interest  as  bearing  upon  this  point. 


58  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

DiiriDg  the  moments  that  j^assed  before  he  lost 
coDSciousness  he  had  many  and  momentous  thoughts. 
Their  multitude  was  the  measure  of  time.  Moments 
seemed  to  be  lengthened  to  hours,  until  at  last  he 
appeared  to  himself  to  die.  But  in  those  swift 
moments  he  had  time  to  review  his  life.  A  deep 
conviction  of  his  ruin  and  helplessness  as  a  justly- 
condemned  sinner  was  the  result.  But  he  saw  with 
equal  clearness  the  open  door  of  hope.  It  pleased 
God,  as  he  believed,  to  reveal  to  him  the  way  of  life 
through  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  enable  him  to  take  the 
first  steps  therein.  He  had  been  taught  the  great 
truths  of  the  gospel  before,  but  had  never  received 
them  as  a  revelation  and  conveyance  of  life  to  him- 
self. Now  they  became  his  by  the  teaching  and  gift 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  consciously  received  Jesus 
Christ  as  his  Saviour,  and  Master  for  the  little 
remnant  of  his  life  and  the  eternity  that  was  be- 
fore him. 

Happily,  the  companions  of  this  young  man  were 
quickly  directed  to  the  spot  where  he  lay.  Restored 
to  consciousness,  he  found  himself,  as  he  hoped,  a 
new  creature  in  Christ  Jesus.  He  retained  a  vivid 
remembrance  of  the  covenant  he  had  made  with 
God  with  death  in  view,  and  faithfully  performed 
his  vow.     Beturning  to  his  home  in  New  York,  he 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  59 

openly  confessed  Christ,  "svho  sought  and,  he  be- 
lieved, found  him  when  douhjv  lost.  Years  of  sin- 
cere  devotion  gave  pleasing  evidence  of  the  reality 
of  the  change,  and  he  departed  at  last  in  the 
blessed  hope  of  the  life  everlasting. 

There  is  one  case  of  conversion  shortly  before 
death,  the  record  of  which  is  preserved  in  the  New 
Testament.  Regarding  this,  therefore,  there  can  be 
no  doubt.  But  I  call  in  question  the  warrant  for 
the  inference  that  there  is  only  one,  lest  we  should 
believe  in  death-bed  conversions.  As  well  infer, 
because  there  are  few  records  in  the  Scriptures  of 
triumphant  departures,  that  the  saints  of  old  did 
not  in  many  cases  close  life  in  peace  and  joy. 
Better  adopt  the  view  of  Augustine,  that  ^'  There 
is  one  instance  of  death-bed  repentance  recorded  in 
the  Scriptures  —  the  penitent  thief — that  none 
should  despair ;  and  only  one,  that  none  may  pre- 
sume.^' 

I  believe  that  in  the  aggregate  there  are  many 
instances  of  salvation  coming  to  sinners  on  beds  of 
death,  and  that  God  will  graciously  own  pastoral 
wisdom  and  fidelity  to  the  large  increase  of  the 
number. 

The  case  referred  to  by  Augustine,  in  language 
often  quoted,  has  special  claims  upon  our  thought. 


60  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM 

I  share  in  the  wonder  and  gratitude  of  those  who 
have  made  it  a  careful  study,  and  trust  you  will 
pardon  my  lingering  upon  it  a  little,  even  though 
I  have  nothing  new  to  say. 

"  With  Jesus  our  Lord  two  thieves  {Xr^aral,  rob- 
bers) were  crucified,  one  on  the  right  hand,  and 
another  on  the  left."  Each  of  the  four  gospels 
makes  record  of  the  fact,  yet  no  two  in  precisely 
the  same  words.* 

The  ^^ disciple  whom  Jesus  loved"  contents 
himself  with  the  simple  but  aifecting  record  :  *'  And 
two  others  Avith  him,  on  either  side  one,  and  Jesus 
in  the  midst." 

The  Evangelist^  Luke  alone  twice  calls  them 
malefactors  {xaxoopyot,  evil-workers).  The  arrange- 
ment of  the  three  crosses  and  their  victims  Avas  a 
device  of  the  haters  of  Jesus  to  put  upon  him  the 
greater  shame.  They  had  no  thought  of  fulfilling 
prophecy  in  thus  literally  numbering  him  with 
transgressors,  and  of  preparing  the  way  for  a  most 
wonderful  work  of  saving  grace.  The  enemies  of 
God  and  man  often  defeat  themselves  by  choosing 
their  own  way.  Never  before  had  such  a  scene 
been  witnessed  in  Golgotha.     It  cannot  be  repeat- 

*  Matt.  27  :  44;  Mark   15  :  27;  Luke   23  :  32,  39-43;  Jolin 
19:18. 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  61 

ed.  The  central  cross  was  the  cynosure  of  all 
eyes.  It  bore  the  Lord  of  glory — the  Son  of  God, 
made  the  Son  of  man — that  the  sons  and  daufrhters 
of  men  might  become  the  sons  and  daughters  of 
the  Lord  Almighty.  And  these  were  the  hours  of 
his  greatest  weakness,  shame  and  anguish  of  spirit. 

It  seems  incredible  that  in  these  solemn  and 
awful  hours  the  people  whom  he  had  served  in 
many  ways  should  revile  him ;  that  even  the  chief 
priests  and  scribes  and  elders  should  invent  terms 
of  reproach  and  blasphemy ;  and,  strangest  of  all, 
that  the  thieves  also  which  w^ere  crucified  with  him 
should  cast  the  same  in  his  teeth.  But  such  is  the 
testimony  of  the  writers  of  the  first  two  gospels. 

What  a  treasure,  therefore,  is  the  third  synoptic 
gospel,  tliat  gives  the  final  fact  regarding  one  of 
the  malefactors  !  It  is  Luke,  called  elsewhere  ''  the 
beloved  physician,"  who  makes  the  record  to  which 
I  refer,  in  these  impressive  words :  "  And  one  of 
the  malefactors  which  were  hanged  railed  on  him, 
savins^,  If  thou  be  the  Christ,  save  thvself  and 
US.  But  the  other,  answering,  rebuked  him,  say- 
ing. Dost  not  thou  fear  God,  seeing  thou  art  in  the 
same  condemnation  ?  And  we  indeed  justly,  for 
we  receive  the  due  reward  of  our  deeds ;  but  this 
man  hath  done  nothing  amiss.     And  he  said  unto 


62  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

Jesus,  Lord,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  into 
(in)  thy  kingdom.  And  Jesus  said  unto  him,  Ver- 
ily I  say  unto  thee.  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me 
in  paradise." 

This  is  tlie  record  entire.  This  man  felt  the  pangs 
of  true  grief  for  his  sins  in  the  very  presence  of  the 
crucified  Jesus.  The  fear  of  God  fell  upon  him. 
He  acknowledged  the  justice  of  his  condemnation 
under  human  law  and  his  deep  guilt  under  God's 
law.  He  felt  most  keenly  that  because  he  was 
a  criminal  in  relation  to  men  he  was  a  sinner  in 
relation  to  God.  Wronging  his  fellows,  he  had  of- 
fended God.  Gladly  would  he  have  led  his  fellow- 
criminal  to  repentance,  confession  and  prayer,  but 
he  tried  in  vain.  Wonderful  change  !  The  Holy 
Spirit  was  his  teacher.  No  voice  of  his  fellow- 
men  helped  him.  Pitiful  women  stood  afar  off  be- 
holding, but  their  eyes  and  thoughts  were  on  their 
expiring  Lord.  Only  Christ  himself  answered 
him.  And  what  an  answer !  It  was  better  than  a 
coronation.  "  To-day  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in 
paradise.^'  We  do  not  know  that  any  other  words 
than  those  already  quoted  passed  between  them. 
But  they  were  enough.  They  did  not  overtax  even 
a  dying  man.  The  remaining  hours  of  his  mortal 
agony,  we   suppose,   were   spent   in   looking   unto 


SALVATION  POSSIBLE.  63 

Jesus,  listening  to  the  gracious  words  that  fell  from 
his  lips,  beholding  him  as  he  gave  up  the  ghost, 
and  then  waiting  till  death  should  set  him  free  to 
join  his  Lord  and  Saviour  in  the  paradise  of  God. 
One  such  case  is  enough.  It  compels  the  belief 
that  the  salvation  of  the  lost  is  possible  on  the  bed 
of  death.  It  demands  of  us  the  recognition  of 
this  possibility  in  the  most  desperate  cases.  Better 
speak  words  of  life  in  the  ear  that  seems  closed  for 
ever  than  be  silent  when  an  immortal  soul  is  in 
peril.  I  once  read  short  portions  of  Scripture  and 
prayed  in  few  words  at  the  bedside  of  a  man  who 
could  not  see  nor  speak  nor  move,  and  continued  to 
do  so,  visiting  him  day  after  day,  when  he  was 
thought  to  be  unconscious  and  quite  beyond  all 
helpful  ministry.  But  he  rallied  at  last,  remem- 
bered every  interview,  heard  and  considered  all 
that  was  read  and  spoken  to  him  and  the  prayers 
offered,  and  was  tliankful  for  the  effort  made  in 
his  behalf.  He  did  not  recover  from  his  sickness, 
but  he  had  hope  in  his  death,  and  we  shared 
with  his  kindred  in  the  belief  that  he  died  in  the 
Lord. 

Still,  it  is  not  wise  or  safe  to  wait  for  a  last  sick- 
ness for  opportunities  to  win  souls  to  Christ.  I 
cannot  forget  the  impressive  words  of  the  Eev.  Dr. 


64  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

Spencer  in  the  last  of  three  published  sermons  on 
^*  The  Delay  of  Conversion.'' 

"  I  must  confess  to  you/'  he  says,  "  that  I  can 
think  of  no  words,  form  or  figure  to  express  the 
diminutiveness  of  that  hope  with  which  we  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  graceless  on  their  beds  of  death. 
What  becomes  of  those  who  die  we  know  not — 
thank  God,  we  know  not.  But  among  all  the  in- 
stances of  supposed  conversion  on  a  sick-bed  which 
I  have  known  (and  I  have  known  many  in  a  min- 
istry of  twenty-five  years),  only  four  of  those  who 
recovered  gave  any  evidence  in  after-life  of  the  re- 
ligion which  they  thought  they  had  gained  when 
sick.  .  .  .  What  a  lesson  on  the  delay  of  conver- 
sion !  What  an  appalling  lesson !"  Then  he  en- 
laro-es  on  the  difficulties  and  dano-ers  of  those  who 
come  to  their  last  sickness  without  a  well-tried  hope 
in  Christ. 

Let  the  great  lesson  of  these  strong  sermons  re- 
main. They  are  the  testimony  of  a  great  and  good 
man — one  of  the  most  faithful  and  successful  pas- 
tors I  have  ever  known.  But  in  passing  to  the 
other  part  of  our  subject,  viz.  Salvation  Probable 
on  a  Death-Bed  in  certain  cases,  I  cannot  with- 
hold the  suggestion  that  the  difference  between 
a  sick-bed   and  a  death-bed   is  not  recognized   as 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  65 

it  should  be.  It  does  not  follow,  as  a  known 
truth,  because  so  large  a  proportion  of  those  who 
think  they  have  found  Christ  on  a  sick-bed,  on 
recovering  find  themselves  mistaken,  that  a  like 
proportion  of  those  who  say  for  the  first  time  on 
their  death-bed  that  he  is  all  their  salvation  and 
all  their  desire  are  mistaken  too. 

The  conversion  of  the  jailer  of  Philippi  occurred 
in  very  close  relation  to  death  threatened  by  his  own 
hand.  But  there  is  another  feature  of  his  case  that 
deserves  notice  in  this  connection.  It  is  said  of  him 
that  after  receiving  the  answer  to  his  question, 
*^Sirs,  what  must  I  do  to  be  saved  ?'^ — ^'Believe 
on  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved 
and  thy  house,''  he  took  Paul  and  Silas,  "  the  same 
hour  of  the  night,  and  washed  their  stripes;  and 
was  baptized,  he  and  all  his,  straightway." 

Already  Lydia  and  her  household  had  been  bap- 
tized. 

In  one  other  case  we  have  the  Apostle's  testi- 
mony, '^  I  baptized  also  the  household  of  Stephanas." 
Here,  therefore,  were  these  households  brought  into 
covenant  relations  with  God,  and  baptized  in  visible 
recognition  and  token  of  the  relation.  I  am  not 
now  assuming  that  there  were  young  children  in  all 
or  any  of  these  families,  and  consequently  pleading 


66  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

for  infant  baptism.  It  rests  upon  firmer  ground 
than  this.  It  is  enough  to  claim  that  in  these  three 
cases  the  household  covenant  was  kept  clearly  in 
view.  It  was  as  dear  to  St.  Paul,  a  converted  Jew 
and  the  founder  of  many  Christian  churches,  as  to 
Simon  Peter,  who,  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  said, 
^'  The  promise  is  unto  you  and  to  your  children,  and 
to  all  that  are  afar  off,  even  as  many  as  the  Lord 
our  God  shall  call,"  And  it  was  no  dearer  to  him 
than  to  the  prophet  Joel,  eight  hundred,  and  to 
Abraham,  nineteen  hundred,  years  before  Christ. 
That  old  covenant  stands  in  all  the  fullness  of  its 
benediction  for  parents  and  their  children  and  chil- 
dren's children  to  this  day.  Even  the  Decalogue,  in 
its  second  commandment,  reveals  God  as  "  showing 
mercy  unto  thousands  of  them  that  love  him  and 
keep  his  commandments."  And  these  "  thousands  " 
we  believe  are  generations. 

The  covenant  with  Abraham  was  partly  in  these 
words  :  "  And  I  will  establish  my  covenant  between 
me  and  thee,  and  thy  seed  after  thee,  in  their  gene- 
rations, for  an  everlasting  covenant,  to  be  a  God 
unto  thee,  and  to  thy  seed  after  thee." 

When,  therefore,  the  salvation  of  God  comes  to 
the  head  of  a  house,  a  blessing  is  diffused  through 
the  household.     In  by  far  the  larger  portion  of  the 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  67 

Christian  Church  the  younger  members  of  a  family 
receive  the  siiirn  and  seal  of  the  ri<i:hteousness  of 
faith  in  holy  l)aptism  when  the  older  believe  the 
gosj>el.  And  whether  the  baptism  come  to  adults 
or  infants,  it  has  precisely  the  same  meaning : 
"Baptism  is  a  sacrament,  wherein  the  washing 
with  water  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the 
Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  doth  signify  and  seal 
our  engrafting  into  Christ,  and  partaking  of  the 
benefits  of  the  covenant  of  grace,  and  our  engage- 
ment to  be  the  Lord's/' 

Hundreds  and  thousands  of  children  and  youths 
and  adults  the  world  over  bear  this  sacred  seal  on 
their  persons.  Many  have  come  to  years  of  full 
responsibility  without  meeting  the  engagement  to 
be  the  Lord's  which  their  parents  made  for  them  at 
their  baptism.  They  may  fall  sick  and  die  as  well 
as  others.  We  do  not  forget  that  the  household 
covenant  is  not  unconditional.  Eli  and  Samuel 
and  Aaron  and  David  had  sons  who  departed  far 
from  God,  and  so  far  as  we  know  they  died  in  their 
sins.  But  the  privileges  of  parents  under  the  former 
dispensation  are  not  denied  to  parents  under  this. 
The  advantage  is  with  the  new  and  latter  until  the 
Lord  shall  come. 

Here,  I  think,  is  laid  a  broad  and  deep  fouuda- 


6S  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

tion  for  the  hope  that  many  children  of  the  cove- 
nant are  saved  by  grace  in  their  last  hours.  The 
Rev.  James  W.  Alexander,  D.  J).,  in  his  Plain 
Words  to  a  Young  Communicant^  expresses  the 
opinion  that  in  the  trying  circumstances  of  a  last 
sickness  not  a  few  are  thrown  back  upon  what  he 
calls  'Hhe  faith  of  their  childhood,"  and,  coming  to 
the  consciousness  of  need,  find  it  all  supplied  in 
Jesus  Christ. 

I  fully  believe,  whatever  exceptions  there  may 
be,  that  salvation  flows  as  a  river,  broad  and  deep, 
in  the  channel  of  the  household  covenant. 

1.  In  some  cases — many,  we  may  hope — the 
change  is  wrought  in  very  early  life,  though  not 
clearly  recognized  by  parents  and  friends.  Or  they 
may  be  surprised  now  and  then  with  almost  un- 
conscious acts  on  the  part  of  their  children,  com- 
pelling the  thought  that  the  fear  and  love  of  God 
have  been  planted  in  their  hearts. 

Suddenly  fatal  sickness  falls  upon  them,  and 
death  is  at  hand,  but  there  is  no  slavish  fear. 
They  assure  those  who  care  tenderly  for  their  sal- 
vation that  they  can  remember  no  time  when  they 
did  not  love  and  trust  the  Saviour  and  desire  to 
please  him.  They  have  never  been  prayerless.  It 
has  long  been  their  wish  to  confess  Jesus  as  their 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  69 

Saviour,  and  it  has  grieved  them  not  to  come  to  the 
Lord's  table  with  his  people.  But  they  have  been 
kept  from  it  in  accordance  with  a  custom  that  has 
not  favored  early  admission  to  it — a  custom,  I  be- 
lieve, more  hurtful  than  helpful  to  the  young,  the 
household  and  the  Church.  Nor  can  I  think  it 
pleasing  to  the  Saviour.  No  one  doubts,  when 
children  of  this  class  have  departed  this  life,  that 
they  have  gone  to  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord. 
Surely  the  terms  of  admission  to  the  Church  tri- 
umphant must  suffice  for  admission  to  communion 
with  the  Saviour's  disciples  on  earth. 

I  cannot  withhold,  in  this  connection,  a  few 
words  from  the  last  sermon  delivered  to  his  own 
people  in  the  Metropolitan  Tabernacle,  by  the  Rev. 
Charles  H.  Spurgeon,  on  the  morning  of  June  7, 
1891.  The  very  next  day  he  had  the  chill  which 
was  the  beginning  of  his  fatal  sickness. 

He  was  speaking  on  the  words,  "  And  his  men 
that  were  with  him  did  David  bring  up  (to  Hebron), 
every  man  ivith  his  household.''^  His  words  are  all 
the  more  suggestive  because  he  was  a  Baptist. 

''  There  is  a  Hebron,"  he  said,  "  where  Jesus 
reigns  as  anointed  king,  and  he  will  not  be  there 
and  leave  one  of  us  behind.  His  poor  people  who 
have  been  with  him  in  faintnessand  weariness  shall 


70  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

be  with  him  in  glory,  and  their  households.  Hold 
on  to  that  additional  blessing.  I  pray  you,  hold 
on  to  it.  Do  not  let  slip  the  words  and  their  house- 
holds. I  fear  we  often  lose  a  blessing  on  our 
households  through  clipping  the  promises.  When 
the  jailer  asked  what  he  must  do  to  be  saved,  what 
w^as  the  answer  ?  ^  Believe  on  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  thou  shalt  be  saved.'  You  have  heard 
that  answer  hundreds  of  times,  have  vou  not? 
Did  you  ever  hear  the  rest  of  it  ?  Why  do  preach- 
ers and  quoters  snip  oif  corners  from  gospel  prom- 
ises ?  It  runs  thus  :  ^  Thou  shalt  be  saved  and  thy 
house.'  Lay  hold  of  that  blessed  enlargement  of 
grace." 

Shall  we  that  believe  in  the  household  covenant 
have  painful  doubts  as  to  the  salvation  of  our 
children  who  die  without  fear  and  claiming  the 
Saviour  as  their  own  ? 

2.  In  many  cases  the  change  from  death  unto 
life  manifestly  has  not  been  wrought  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  up  to  the  time  of  the  last  sickness.  The 
folly  of  youth  has  continued.  A  wayward  spirit 
in  relation  to  parental  authority  and  the  restraints 
of  the  school  and  the  church  mav  have  been  dom- 
inant,  and  even  defiant.  They  have  been  taught 
the  truths  of  God's  word  in  the  home,  the  sane- 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  71 

tiiarv,  the  Suuday-school  and,  it  may  be,  the  col- 
lege. Prayer  has  been  offered  for  them  continual- 
ly by  parents,  kindred,  pastors,  teachers,  churches, 
and  by  many,  too,  who  may  have  gone  before  into 
the  heavens.  At  last  they  are  arrested  by  fatal 
sickness.  The  Saviour's  will  and  hand  are  in  the 
arrest.  He  stands  at  the  door  and  knocks.  Is  he 
less  concerned  to  save  than  we  are?  less  than 
Satan  is  to  destroy  ?  He  sends  his  messengers  to 
them.  Is  there  no  sign  of  his  willingness  to  save 
in  this?  By  his  word  and  Spirit  he  shows  to  many 
the  plague  of  their  hearts  and  constrains  them  to 
ask  for  the  healing  of  the  plague.  Conscience  at 
last  is  fullv  aroused.  There  is  recollection,  sorrow, 
confession,  inquiry.  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved? 
It  is  the  old  question.  And  the  old  answer  is  the 
true  one — the  whole  of  it,  because  it  brings  to  view 
the  household  covenant :  "  Believe  on  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  thou  shalt  be  saved  and  thy 
house.''  Parental  faith  comes  to  the  rescue. 
Covenant  blessings  are  importunately  sought.  The 
God  of  salvation  hears  for  Christ's  sake.  He  is 
not  w^itchino;  to  kill,  but  to  make  alive.  The 
wonders  of  salvation  are  all  his,  and  bring  glory  to 
his  name.  The  time  element  does  not  mean  so 
much  to  him  as  to  us.     William  Jay  once  said  that 


72  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

\  Christ  is  able  "  to  save  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the 
earth;  to  the  uttermost  limits  of  time;  to  the  ut- 
termost period  of  life ;  to  the  uttermost  depth  of 
depravity ;  to  the  uttermost  depth  of  misery ;  and 
to  the  uttermost  measure  of  perfection/^  And 
Spurgeou,  quoted  by  the  same  writer  (James  M. 
Campbell),  says :  "  If  you  are  so  far  gone  that 
there  seems  to  be  not  even  a  ghost  of  a  shade  of  a 
shadow  of  a  hope  anywhere  about  you,  yet  if  you 
believe  in  Jesus  you  shall  live.  Trust  in  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  for  he  is  worthy  to  be  trusted. 
Throw  yourself  upon  him,  and  he  will  carry  you 
in  his  bosom.  Cast  your  whole  weight  upon  his 
atonement;  it  will  bear  the  strain. '^ 

This  sweet  truth,  tenderly  reiterated  in  the  ear 
of  the  dying  who  have  long  neglected  it,  may  be 
blessed  of  God  to  moving  their  sorrow  for  him 
whom  they  have  pierced,  and  their  joy  that  he 
Avaits  to  be  gracious,  and  is  willing  and  able  to  save 
them  in  their  last  hours. 

If  any  pervert  the  truth  that  sinners  are  saved 
even  in  such  circumstances,  and  therefore  continue 
to  neglect  the  great  salvation  in  time  of  health, 
delaying  conversion  for  the  time  of  sickness,  they 
have  reason  to  fear  that  when  at  last  they  call,  if 
ever  thev  do,  God  will  not  answer. 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  73 

Will  you  pardon  an  allusion  to  a  personal  inci- 
dent ?  It  had  much  to  do  with  correcting  what  up 
to  that  time  had  been,  I  think,  a  false  estimate  of 
ray  own  with  regard  to  responsibility  for  the  per- 
version of  facts  as  to  death-bed  repentance,  especial- 
ly w^hen  published  to  the  world. 

Being  in  London,  England,  in  the  fall  of  1858, 
I  was  invited  to  address  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association.  About  six  hundred  were  present, 
many  of  them  not  disciples  of  Christ.  In  urg- 
ing them  to  embrace  the  gospel  without  delay,  I 
related  the  leading  facts  in  regard  to  a  young  man 
of  promise  in  the  office  of  the  Atlantic  Mutual  In- 
surance Company  of  New  York  City,  who  was 
fatally  hurt  one  Saturday  night,  and,  after  seven 
days  and  seven  nights  of  unutterable  agony,  died 
in  the  peace  which  only  the  gospel  can  give.  As  I 
was  wnth  him  more  or  less  all  through  that  event- 
ful week,  and  after  every  interview  made  careful 
record  of  his  words  and  changing  experiences,  and 
also  wrote  letters  to  him  instructing  him  in  the 
truths  of  the  gospel  and  the  w^ay  of  salvation,  to 
be  read  to  him  by  his  mother  when,  for  any  reason, 
I  could  not  see  him,  I  was  able  from  memory  and 
heart  to  give  the  diary  of  that  wonderful  week. 
Especially  I  related  how,  from  my  first  interview 


74  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

with  him,  on  Monday,  July  20,  1857,  until  Wed- 
nesday morning,  the  22d,  he  said  strongly  that  he 
was  "not  prepared  for  death,  and  knew  that  he 
was  a  lost  soul,  and  deserved  to  be  lost,  because, 
while  he  knew  his  duty,  he  would  not  mind  God.'' 

But  the  story  is  quite  too  long  to  relate  here. 
Let  it  be  enough  to  add  that  on  the  afternoon  of 
that  day,  Wednesday,  July  22d,  he  greeted  me  with 
the  glad  tidings  that  he  had  found  peace  in  believ- 
ing. He  gave  a  most  satisfactory  account  of  the 
change,  and  good  reasons  for  the  hope  that  was  in 
him.  Nor  did  it  afterward  fail — except  during 
two  or  three  dark  hours,  from  which  he  emerged 
into  the  clear  light  of  an  endless  day — as  all  who 
knew  him  best  believed. 

On  the  platform,  as  I  gave  the  narrative,  was  the 
Eev.  T.  W.  J.  Wylie,  D.  D.,  of  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
then  a  stranger  to  me.  Deeply  affected,  even  to 
tears,  he  accompanied  me  to  my  hotel,  and  urged 
me  to  publish  the  account  which  I  had  given  oral- 
ly. I  told  him  that  while  I  could  eavsily  do  it,  as 
my  notes  were  full  and  consecutive,  yet  I  had  not 
thought  of  doing  it.  I  had  no  question,  nor  had 
others  who  knew  the  facts,  as  to  the  reality  and 
blessedness  of  the  change,  but  I  was  afraid  the  liv- 
ing might  pervert  the  lateness  of  the  conversion  to 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  75 

their  own  delay  in  seeking  the  Saviour,  and  die  in 
their  sins.  Dr.  Wylie  reasoned  earnestly  with  me. 
He  said  the  unsaved  perverted  even  the  gospel.  I 
had  all  the  facts.  I  could  not  be  held  responsible 
for  the  perversion  of  them  by  others,  but  I  would 
be  responsible  if  I  withheld  them  from  the  knowl- 
edge of  others,  and  so  virtually  suppressed  them. 

I  promised  to  consider  what  he  said,  and  finally 
I  acted  upon  his  suggestion,  and  the  Carters  in  New 
York  and  houses  in  London  and  Edinburgh  pub- 
lislied  the  narrative.  A  year  or  two  ago  the  Messrs. 
Carter  gave  the  stereotype  plates  to  me,  and  I  gave 
them  to  the  Board  of  Publication.  Under  a  slight- 
ly changed  name,  Saved  by  Grace;  oVy  The  Last 
Week  in  the  Life  of  Davis  Johnson,  Jr.,  it  is  now 
published  by  the  Board,  and  I  am  thankful  to  know 
that  it  has  not  lived  so  Ions:  in  vain. 

I  ought  to  add  that  the  young  man  was  the  son 
of  Christian  parents.  His  father  had  been  for  many 
years  an  elder  in  a  Reformed  (Dutch)  church, 
though  at  the  time  a  member  of  our  church,  and 
the  son  was  taught  the  Scriptures  from  his  youth. 

3.  But  the  children  of  godly  parents  may  be  cut 
off  more  suddenlv  still. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  called  to  visit  a  young 
Scotchman,  not  long  in  this  country,  who  had  taken 


76  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

employment  for  the  time  in  a  distillery.  Caught 
in  the  machinery,  he  was  so  fearfully  torn  that  he 
lived  but  a  few  hours.  Far  away  in  the  old  coun- 
try, his  believing  father  and  mother  knew  nothing 
of  his  hurt  until,  a  few  days  later,  I  wrote  them 
of  his  death.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  fatal  injury 
he  had  made  no  confession  of  Christ  as  his  Sav- 
iour. He  had  been  baptized  in  infancy  on  the  faith 
of  his  parents.  Well  instructed  in  the  Scriptures 
and  familiar  with  the  Assembly's  Shorter  Catechism, 
much  precious  truth  was  in  his  memory.  Under 
the  help  given  him  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  truth 
seemed  to  find  its  way  at  once  to  his  heart.  He  ac- 
knowledged his  sinfulness,  transgressions  and  guilt. 
Of  a  quick  understanding  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord, 
he  was  eager  for  instruction,  receiving  the  truth  in 
the  love  of  it,  and  accepting  Christ  as  his  Saviour 
with  all  readiness  and  gladness  of  heart.  It  was  a 
sacred  pleasure  to  stay  by  him,  leading  him  Christ- 
ward  and  heavenward,  although  the  throbbing  of  his 
fliiling  heart  could  be  seen  through  the  opening  the 
cogs  had  made. 

4.  Many  sons  are  sent  or  go  from  their  Christian 
homes  never  to  return,  and  yet  to  be  found,  as  I 
trust  this  young  man  will  be,  safe  in  the  Father's 
house  at   the   home-coming  of  the  godly  parents. 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  77 

Overtaken  on  the  sea  or  the  land  by  sickness  or  ca- 
lamity, they  are  suddenly  confronted  with  death, 
are  thrown  back  upon  tlieir  childhood's  instruc- 
tion, and,  by  the  watchful  Spirit  of  God,  come  to  a 
better  than  even  their  childhood's  faith.  The  loving 
Saviour,  quick  and  eager  to  find  his  erring  ones, 
meets  them  in  the  person  of  some  faithful  messen- 
ger, a  Christian  fellow-sailor  or  soldier  or  chaplain, 
and  draws  them  to  himself,  it  may  be  amid  the  ter- 
rors of  the  shipwreck  or  the  battle-field.  Shall  the 
suddenness  of  their  departure  deprive  him  of  his 
purchased  rights,  or  kindred  and  friends  of  strong 
consolation  ?  The  water  does  *not  drown  nor  the 
bullet  strike  them  without  the  knowledge  and  will 
of  the  living  Christ.  Quicker  even  than  water 
drowns  or  a  bullet  flies  the  Holy  Spirit  may  give 
life  to  an  instructed  soul. 

5.  There  is  a  class  of  the  children  of  the  cove- 
nant who  live  in  sad  estrangement  from  Christ  till 
they  are  not  only  mature  in  years,  but  some  of  them 
past  the  meridian  of  life.  They  may  be  restrained 
by  education,  by  conscience,  by  all  the  influences  of 
Christian  homes,  from  outbreaking  wickedness,  and 
yet  have  no  knowledge  of  the  plague  of  their  own 
hearts.  Or  they  may  break  loose  from  all  re- 
straints, and,  like  the  prodigal,  follow  the  desires 


78  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

and  devices  of  their  own  hearts  until  confronted  by 
death  and  compelled  to  consider  their  ways. 

Some  years  ago  I  was  asked  to  visit  a  young 
woman,  the  child  of  a  believing  mother  who  had 
entered  into  rest.  The  daughter  had  attempted  to 
take  her  own  life  under  the  impression  that  she  had 
committed  the  sin  that  hath  never  forgiveness. 

She  was  caught  in  the  very  act  and  carefully 
guarded  by  day  and  night.  When  convinced  that 
she  had  not  committed  the  sin,  the  nature  of  which 
she  did  not  know,  and  that  it  would  be  a  most  fool- 
ish, cowardly  and  wicked  thing  to  take  her  own 
life,  she  gave  me  her  promise  that  she  would  not 
attempt  it  again.  And  when  told  plainly  that,  al- 
though she  had  not  committed  that  sin,  she  had 
sinned  far  more  deeply  than  she  knew,  but  not 
more  deeply  tha'n  the  Saviour  knew,  she  was  en- 
abled to  cast  herself  as  she  was  upon  him,  and  to 
accept  his  grace  and  blood,  even  himself,  as  all  her 
salvation  and  all  her  desire.  That  was  the  be^in- 
ning  of  a  happy  and  useful  Christian  life  which 
continues  to  this  day. 

A  young  man  who  was  carefully  reared  in  a 
Christian  home  was  impelled  by  an  uncontrollable 
passion  to  go  to  sea.  With  the  consent  of  his  par- 
ents, he  embarked  on  a  whale-ship  bound  for  the 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  79 

South  Atlantic.  The  Bible  given  by  his  mother, 
with  the  request  that  he  would  read  it  daily,  was  in 
his  chest,  and  up  to  the  time  of  which  I  have  oc- 
casion to  speak  had  been  used  but  little  if  at  all. 
He  was  a  sailor  among  sailors,  and  lived  as  he 
pleased,  though  happily  there  was  a  Christian  ship- 
mate in  the  crew. 

After  a  prosperous  voyage  the  ship  was  about  to 
return  to  the  North,  and  he  was  greatly  elated  with 
the  near  prospect  of  seeing  his  parents  and  revisit- 
ing the  scenes  and  companions  of  his  early  years 
havino;  tales  of  travel  and  adventure  to  tell.  But 
in  stowing  down  the  oil  when  the  sea  was  rough  a 
sudden  lurch  of  the  vessel  brought  a  cask  of  oil 
against  him  with  such  force  that  both  his  legs  were 
crushed  and  he  received  other  injuries  that  soon 
proved  fatal.  He  knew  from  the  first  that  he 
could  not  live.  His  Christian  shipmate  at  once 
shared  the  deep  concern  he  felt  for  his  salvation. 
He  was  sent  to  the  chest  for  the  long-neglected 
Bible,  and  asked  to  read  where  it  told  how  to  get 
ready  for  death  and  heaven.  He  turned  to  the 
fifty-first  Psalm,  and,  coming  to  the  10th  verse, 
"  Create  in  me  a  clean  heart,  O  God,  and  renew  a 
right  spirit  within  me,"  he  was  requested  to  "  hold 
there."     "That   is  just   what   I  want,"   said   the 


80  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

dying  sailor.  "  How  shall  I  get  it  ?"  "  Pray  God  to 
give  it  for  Christ's  sake/'  was  the  answer.  ^'  Oli, 
yes,"  the  other  exclaimed  ;  "  Jesus  is  the  Saviour." 
— "Shipmate,  it  is  an  awful  thing  to  die,  and  I've 
got  to  go.  Oh,  if  mother  was  here  to  tell  me  how 
to  .  get  ready !"  and  he  trembled  with  emotion. 
After  a  short  pause,  in  which  he  seemed  to  be  in 
deep  thought,  he  said,  "  Do  you  know  of  any  place 
where  it  is  said  that  such  sinners  as  I  can  be 
saved  ?"  The  words,  "  This  is  a  faithful  saying,  and 
worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came 
into  the  world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am 
chief,"  and  "  He  is  able  to  save  them  to  the  utter- 
most that  come  unto  God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever 
liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them,"  were  read. 
"  That's  plain,"  he  said.  "  Now,  if  I  only  knew 
how  to  come  to  God  !"  "  Come  as  a  child  to  a 
father,"  \vas  the  answer.  *^  How's  that?"  he  asked. 
— "  As  the  child  feels  that  his  father  can  help 
him  in  danger,  so  you  are  to  feel  that  God  can  help 
you  now.  And  as  the  child  trusts  his  father  by 
fleeing  to  him,  so  you  must  trust  Jesus  by  casting 
yourself  upon  him."  He  lay  a  little  while  en- 
gaged in  earnest  pleading  with  God,  as  was  evident 
from  the  few  words  that  were  overheard.  Then 
the  tears  began  to  run  down  his  face  and  a  bright 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  81 

smile  played  like  a  sunbeam  on  liis  features.  "  He 
forofives  me,  and  I  shall  be  saved,"  he  said  with 
great  sweetness  of  voice  and  manner.  And  as 
death  came  he  said,  "ile's  come!  he^s  comeT' 
^^AVho  has  come?''  asked  his  shipmate.  "Jesus 
has  come,"  he  whispered;  and  so  his  life  here 
came  to  an  end. 

I  will  not  doubt  that  the  compassionate  Saviour 
revealed  himself  to  this  poor  sinner  in  the  little  in- 
terval between  the  hurt  and  the  dying.  Surely  our 
compassion  is  not  greater  than  his. 

What  reason  can  any  one  give  for  assuming  that 
a  man  in  such  distressing  circumstances,  earnestly 
desiring  to  find  the  way  of  life,  confessing  him- 
self a  sinner  and  pleading  for  pardon  and  accept- 
ance with  God  for  Jesus'  sake,  must  be  deceived? 
Better  a  thousand  times  believe  that  the  Saviour 
is  at  the  door;  that  he  has  arranged  all  the  circum- 
stances for  arresting  and  saving  one  that  w^as  lost ; 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  waits  for  some  lover  of  the 
truth  to  give  voice  to  his  saving  word ;  that  you 
are  yourself  the  very  person,  if  the  providence  of 
God  our  Saviour  points  to  you  ;  and  that  holy  an- 
gels are  ready  to  carry  the  ransomed  soul  to  the 
opening  heavens. 

At  the  communion  of  the  church  of  which  I  am 

6 


82  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

the  senior  pastor,  held  Juue  20,  1852,  of  the  four- 
teen persons  recognized  as  having  been  received  by 
the  Session,  one  was  a  young  girl  sixteen  years  old, 
now  the  devoted  wife  of  a  Christian  minister  and 
the  mother  of  Christian  children ;  another  was  a 
woman  more  than  seventy  years  of  age.  Although 
the  widow  of  a  deacon,  she  had  never  knoAvn  real 
soul-trouble  for  her  sins  until  a  few  weeks  before. 
Looking  from  her  window  at  an  early  hour  one 
morning,  she  saw  an  aged  couple  whom  she  knew 
well  on  their  way  to  a  meeting  that  was  to  be  held 
in  our  prayer-room.  She  instantly  felt  a  deep  con- 
cern for  her  salvation.  On  the  next  Lord's  day 
she  was  iu  her  place  in  the  house  of  God.  I  knew 
nothing  of  her  anxiety.  The  text  was  '^Quench 
not  the  Spirit.''  She  thought  the  sermon  was  pre- 
pared for  her.  After  a  fortnight  of  deep  heart- 
searching  and  most  agonizing  conviction  of  sin,  she 
found  the  Saviour,  and  great  peace  in  believing. 
A  few  months  later  she  fell  in  a  street  of  New 
York,  was  carried  to  the  house  of  a  friend,  and 
died,  broken  in  body,  but  healed  by  the  blood  and 
touch  of  Christ,  a  joyful  witness  to  the  last  of  the 
power  and  preciousness  of  saving  grace. 

I  have  mentioned  her  case  because  it  shows  the 
patience,  the  compassion  and  the  fixed  purpose  with 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  83 

which  the  Saviour  keeps  watch  over  individual 
souls,  and  surpasses  and  surprises  us  in  saving  some 
whom  we  might  pass  by  as  hardly  responsive  to 
any  influence  of  truth  by  which  others  are  won  to 
Christ.  Death-bed  repentances  of  younger  persons 
are  not  more  wonderful,  and  they  are  not  limited  to 
the  children  or  descendants  of  Christian  parents. 

I  close  this  lecture  by  giving  somewhat  in  detail 
an  incident  that  I  often  recall  with  tender  interest 
and  cannot  forget  while  life  lasts  : 

Through  the  whole  history  of  South  Third 
Street  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  the 
prayer-meeting  following  the  communion  has  been 
devoted  especially  to  parents  and  their  children, 
though  we  commonly  include  Sunday-school  teach- 
ers and  their  scholars. 

Knowing  that  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Hewitt,  D.  D., 
pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Bridgeport, 
Ct.,  was  the  guest  of  one  of  our  elders  who  lived 
not  far  from  the  place  of  meeting,  I  hastened  to 
the  house  and  asked  him  to  be  present  and  make  an 
address.  He  would  not  promise  to  do  so,  as  he  was 
in  one  of  his  melancholv  moods.  He  told  me  to 
go  on  with  the  service,  and  that  if  he  came  it 
would  be  quite  late.  And,  sure  enough,  he  came  in 
while  I  was  speaking  to  the  people.     He  was  tall 


84  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

and  large  (I  had  almost  said  immense,  for  he  had  a 
most  impressive  presence)  and  deeply  solemn,  wear- 
ins:  on  this  occasion  a  fur  muffler  hi2:h  around  his 
neck  and  face,  for  the  weather  was  cold.  It  was 
evident  that  he  was  deeply  affected  by  the  sight 
that  met  his  eyes  on  entering  the  place — a  large  lec- 
ture-room full  of  parents  and  their  offspring,  teach- 
ers and  their  scholars.  He  did  not  decline  the 
place  that  I  at  once  offered  him  in  the  pulpit. 
Without  removing  overcoat  or  muffler  he  began 
with  these  very  words : 

"  This  is  a  great  subject,  a  very  great  subject — 
the  Supremacy  of  God  in  the  Family.^'  Continu- 
ing:, he  said  that  the  children  of  Christian  house- 
holds  sometimes  pursued  a  violent  course  in  rela- 
tion to  God,  and  he  pursued  a  violent  course 
toward  them.  In  illustration  of  this,  he  stated  that 
during  the  war  of  1812-15  he  was  pastor  of  a 
church  in  Plattsburgh  on  Lake  Champlain.  On 
one  occasion  General  Macomb,  who  was  in  com- 
mand of  the  American  forces  stationed  there,  sent 
for  him,  that  he  might  visit  and  instruct  twenty- 
four  soldiers  who  for  serious  offences  had  been  tried 
and  condemned  to  be  shot.  Six  were  to  suffer  the 
extreme  penalty  of  the  law  the  following  day.  The 
others,  though  they  knew  it  not,  would  be  reprieved. 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  85 

On  his  mournful  errand  he  went  to  the  guard- 
house, and  from  a  list  furnished  him  read  the 
names  of  all  the  condemned  men.  All  answered  to 
their  names  and  came  forward  with  the  exception 
of  one,  a  man  of  high  social  position  but  of  desper- 
ate character.  He  refused  to  leave  his  bunk. 
With  the  others  Mr.  Hewitt  spent  several  hours, 
reading  suitable  portions  of  Scripture,  preaching 
the  gospel  and  offering  fervent  prayer  that  they 
might  be  saved.  Late  in  the  night  he  left  them, 
returning  the  next  morning  early  to  his  work  of 
mercy.  As  he  tenderly  addressed  them  man  by 
man,  not  yet  knowing  who  were  to  live  and  who 
to  die,  he  came  at  last  to  a  Scotchman  named  Alex- 
ander. This  man  welcomed  Mr.  Hewitt  with  joy, 
and  at  once  related  the  experience  of  the  night  and, 
briefly,  his  career  from  boyhood.  On  retiring  to 
his  place  of  rest  he  had  been  confronted  with  the 
sins  of  his  whole  life.  Sleep  fled.  He  remembered 
with  deepest  sorrow  and  pain  his  wayward  conduct 
from  his  youth.  He  was  a  child  of  godly  parents 
and  many  prayers.  The  very  words  of  his  father's 
intercessions  in  his  behalf  at  the  family  altar  came 
clearly  to  his  mind.  He  recalled  the  answers  to 
questions  in  the  Shorter  Catechism,  and  many  por- 
tions  of  Scripture.     From   all   the   love   and   re- 


86  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

straints  of  his  home  he  secretly  fled  at  the  age  of 
thirteen  years,  and  for  more  than  twenty  years  he 
had  been  a  wanderer  and  vagabond  on  the  face  of 
the  earth  and  on  the  sea.  At  last  he  had  been  sud- 
denly and  justly  arrested  by  the  strong  arm  of 
military  authority  and  power.  During  the  night 
just  past  he  saw  the  utter  ruin  in  which  he  was 
involved  as  a  criminal  under  human  law,  a  trans- 
gressor under  God's  law,  and  now  condemned,  with- 
out reprieve,  to  die  an  ignominious  death ;  for  he  had 
learned  this. 

But  the  discovery  of  his  helpless  ruin  was  ac- 
companied by  another,  equally  clear.  He  saw  the 
way  of  life  through  Jesus  Christ.  He  saw  plainly 
that  the  glory  of  Christ's  person  and  offices  and 
work  answered  to  the  deformity  and  guilt  of  his 
person  and  life.  He  was  looking  unto  Jesus,  cling- 
ing to  him  as  his  Saviour,  and  awaiting  without  fear 
the  moment  of  his  execution. 

Mr.  Hewitt  was  greatly  moved  in  recognition  of 
the  matchless  grace  and  power  of  the  Saviour  in 
relation  to  this  sinful  child  of  the  covenant.  Call- 
ing the  other  five  men,  who  were  at  last  made 
known  to  him  as  about  to  die,  he  gave  them  in- 
struction suited  to  their  sad  condition,  and  told  them 
of  the  grace  of  God  in  Alexander's  case,  entreating 


SALVATION  PROBABLE.  87 

them  to  trust  in  the  same  Saviour.  While  thus 
engaged  he  felt  something  fall  on  his  ear  and  neck, 
and,  looking  up  to  see  what  it  was,  he  found  one 
of  the  officers  standing  a  little  above  him,  weeping. 
And  in  that  moment  of  silence  the  officer,  tenderly 
addressing  Alexander,  begged  him,  if  he  could  die 
peacefully  and  in  hope  of  eternal  life,  to  look  up 
into  his  face  and  smile.  He  instantly  gave  the 
sign  of  inward  peace  and  hope.  Shortly  after,  the 
quick  firing  of  a  platoon  of  soldiers  dismissed  him, 
as  Mr.  Hewitt  believed,  to  his  Saviour's  presence. 

Some  years  later  Mr.  Hewitt  was  traveling  in 
Vermont,  and,  having  occasion  to  pass  through  a 
toll-gate,  was  accosted  by  the  keeper  with  the  ques- 
tion, "Sir,  were  you  not  the  minister  at  Platts- 
burg  during  the  last  war?"  Learning  that  he 
was,  the  gate-keeper  stated  that  he  was  one  of  the 
eighteen  soldiers  condemned  to  die,  but  reprieved, 
yet  during  all  that  awful  night  expecting  to  be  shot 
in  the  morning.  The  instruction  then  given  had 
been  owned  of  God  to  his  conversion. 

Have  you  a  doubt,  dear  brethren,  that  salvation 
is  possible  on  a  death-bed  ?  and  that  in  some  cases 
it  is  probable,  and  even  more  than  probable  ?  Im- 
perfect as  the  argument  of  this  lecture  has  been,  I 
sincerely  hope  that  in  your  own  ministry  you  may 


88  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM, 

have  the  joy  of  winning  many  souls,  and  that  you 
may  despair  of  none  while  life  lasts.  I  can  speak 
confidently  of  one  thing :  when  you  have  taken  the 
soul  of  another  upon  your  soul  shortly  before  it 
leaves  the  world,  and  thought  of  its  worth,  felt  its 
danger,  prayed  for  it,  and,  as  you  believe,  by  God's 
blessing  upon  the  truth  won  it  to  Christ,  the  all- 
sufficient  Saviour,  you  will  let  no  opportunity  pass 
to  give  help  to  every  other  soul  under  your  care 
that  is  ready  to  perish.  There  is  exquisite,  sacred 
joy  in  being  used  to  voice  the  words  of  the  silent 
Holy  Spirit,  and  to  make  known  in  this  way  the 
present  but  unseen  Saviour  to  one  who  needs  noth- 
ing so  much  as  to  touch  him  by  faith  and  be  saved 
by  his  grace. 

"  They  that  be  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness 
of  the  firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to 
righteousness,  as  the  stars  for  ever  and  ever." 


LECTURE   III. 

MrouG  treatment  ot  tF^e  Slcli  ant)  B^ing ; 
IRtGbt  treatment  ot  tbe  Same ;  Xllses  tbat 
ma^  be  properly  /IDabe  of  tbetr  iEjpeti«= 
ence^ 


LECTURE    III. 

WRONG  TREATMENT  OF  THE  SICK  AND  DYING. 

T  DO  not  speak  to  you,  gentlemen,  as  if  you  were 
preparing  to  be  trained  nurses,  though  that  is  a 
noble  calling,  and  you  may  often  do  good  service 
by  wise  suggestions  as  to  the  proper  care  of  the 
body.  But  you  are  chiefly  to  watch  for  souls  as 
they  who  must  give  account. 

I  refer  mainly  to  the  treatment  of  the  sick  and 
the  dying,  which,  by  God's  blessing,  may  be  their 
preparation  for  the  life  that  remains  to  them  here 
and  the  endless  life  of  the  future.  The  responsi- 
bility of  their  treatment  is  shared  by  physicians, 
ministers,  kinsfolk,  friends,  and  sometimes  by  paid 
nurses. 

In  critical  cases  it  may  not  be  easy  to  decide 
which  of  the  two,  the  body  or  the  soul,  shall  have 
the  first  care.  We  can  reach  the  soul  with  saving; 
truth  only  through  the  body.  The  Holy  Spirit 
may  use  truth  long  before  learned  to  reach  and  save 
the  soul  when  we  seem  to  be  cut  off  from  all  ac- 
cess to  a  dying  person  by  reason  of  his  bodily  con- 

91 


92  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

ditiou.  If  the  sickness  is  manifestly  unto  death 
and  the  patient  has  given  no  sign  of  vital  union  to 
Christ,  the  physician  and  friends  should  interpose 
no  obstacle  to  wise  efforts  for  the  instruction  and 
salvation  of  one  so  soon  to  know  the  great  things 
of  the  other  life.  Everything  should  be  made  sub- 
ordinate to  this  end. 

1.  And  here,  first,  I  have  a  word  to  say  about 
physicians  in  their  relation  to  persons  who  are  very 
ill  and  may  be  near  to  death. 

My  own  experience  has  been  perhaps  exception- 
ally pleasant,  for  the  reason  that  I  have  been  asso- 
ciated mainly  with  Christian  men  in  the  medical 
profession.  They  have  welcomed  me  to  fullest  pos- 
sible co-operation  with  themselves.  Nothing  but  a 
hindrance  that  I  recognized  as  real  has  kept  me 
from  the  presence  of  their  patients.  I  shall  never 
forget  the  deep  concern  felt  by  Dr.  Mason,  for- 
merly of  Brooklyn,  now,  I  have  no  doubt,  in  heaven, 
that  one  of  his  patients  who  had  come  to  the  bed 
of  death  might  have  a  Christian  hope  before  sub- 
mitting to  a  very  dangerous  operation.  Dr.  Mason 
assured  me  that  he  would  not  proceed  until  he  was 
satisfied,  through  me,  that  the  sufferer  had  found 
rest  and  peace  in  Christ.  And  he  shared  in  the 
great  joy  when  I  was  permitted  to  say  to  him  that 


WEONG   TREATMENT.  93 

I  believed  his  patient  was  ready  for  life  or  for  in- 
stant death  as  the  resnlt  of  the  proposed  operation. 
It  was  not  fatal,  but  it  brought  no  relief,  and  he 
soon  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

I  cannot  withhold  here  a  reference  to  John  Au- 
gustus McVicker,  M.  D.,  of  New  York  City,  who 
died  in  March,  1892,  aged  seventy-seven  years. 
Dr.  McVicker  was  for  many  years  a  devoted, 
earnest  and  leading  member  of  St.  George's  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  Church  in  Stuyvesaut  Square. 
Of  him  it  was  said  that  "besides  his  great  skill 
as  a  physician  for  the  body,  he  w^as  also  a  born 
benefactor  to  the  soul  of  every  suiferer  who  came 
across  his  path.  Morning,  noon  and  night  the 
Master's  teachings  were  omnipotent  with  him." 

In  only  one  instance  do  I  remember  to  have  felt 
it  my  duty  to  administer  reproof  to  a  physician 
who  attempted  to  restrict  my  attentions  to  a  dying 
patient  whom  I  thoroughly  knew  and  who  earnestly 
desired  frequent  and  short  interviews  with  me. 
The  physician  was  a  young  man,  and  I  told  him 
plainly  that  I  knew  more  of  the  sick-room  than 
he  did,  and  that  I  could  not  be  controlled  by  what 
he  had  said.  He  had  the  good  sense  to  ajiologize 
and  to  admit  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  even  with 
reference  to  his  patient. 


94  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

It  is  clear  enough  that  unless  a  physician  knows 
a  minister  to  be  wise  in  dealing  with  the  sick — one 
who  at  once  perceives  what  is  helpful  and  what  is 
hurtful — he  must  decline  taking  the  responsibility 
of  encouraging,  or  even  permitting,  his  visits.  He 
is  waging  a  battle  with  disease.  On  the  two  sides 
in  the  conflict  are  life  and  death,  and  he  is  with  the 
^^  life.'^  Whether  Christian  or  not,  he  ous^ht  to  be 
intent  on  diagnosing  the  disease,  watching  symp- 
toms, administering  remedies  and  noting  their  ef- 
fects. He  may  therefore  quite  forget  that  he  is 
dealino;  with  one  who  has  yet  to  lav  hold  on  eternal 
life  while  his  grasp  on  the  present  life  may  be 
daily  growing  weaker.  Or  if  he  should  recognize 
this  sad  condition  of  his  patient,  he  may  share  a 
belief  that  is  too  common,  that  one  who  is  distracted 
by  the  pains  of  the  body  and  near  to  death  is  quite 
beyond  the  reach  of  salvation  by  faith  in  the  Sa- 
viour. He  ought  to  remember  that  what  is  impos- 
sible with  men  is  possible  with  God ;  that  while  the 
sufferer  is  passing  beyond  his  skill  and  beyond  all 
remedial  agents  for  the  help  of  his  body,  he  has 
not  passed  beyond  the  reach  of  Him  who  gave  life 
to  the  dead.  He  should  therefore  gladly  co-operate 
with  ministers  or  others  who  wisely  seek  to  point 
and  lead  the  dying  to  Christ. 


WRONG   TREATMENT.  95 

It  is  unspeakably  sad  when  pliysicians  who  are 
in  daily  contact  with  the  sick  and  dying  have  no 
care  for  human  souls.  After  all,  the  healing  of  the 
body  and  its  endless  weal — for  it  shares  the  destiny 
of  the  soul — does  not  depend  on  human  skill  alone. 
It  is  said  of  Christ  that  "  himself  took  our  infirmi- 
ties and  bore  our  sicknesses.'^  It  is  not  wise  nor  rio:ht 
to  make  nothing  of  Ciirist  while  ministering  to  the 
body.  Of  Asa,  one  of  the  kings  of  Judah,  it  is  said, 
"  In  his  disease  he  souo^ht  not  to  the  Lord,  but  to  the 
physicians.^'  Consequently  the  words  follow  imme- 
diately: "Asa  slept  with  his  fathers,  and  died  in 
the  one  and  fortieth  year  of  his  reign.''  I  would  not 
dare  to  reverse  the  order,  putting  the  physician  be- 
fore the  Lord.  Looking  unto  the  Lord  and  send- 
ing for  the  physician  with  faithful  regard  for  his 
counsel  will  ensure  the  best  results. 

The  physician  in  all  ordinary  cases  has  no  more 
reason  or  right  to  exclude  the  minister,  Avho  seeks 
the  salvation  of  the  soul  for  eternity,  and  of  the  body 
with  it,  than  has  the  minister  to  exclude  the  phy- 
sician, who  aims  to  heal  the  body  for  the  few  and 
uncertain  years  appointed  it  for  life  on  the  earth. 
And  it  may  be  well  to  repeat  the  belief  which  I 
share  with  manv  who  are  wise,  that  the  word  of 
God,  and  prayer  ministered  wisely,  gently,  sincere- 


96  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

ly  by  those  who  come  to  the  sick  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord,  are  among  the  most  powerful  of  all  rem- 
edial agencies.  For  nothing  is  more  depressing  to 
the  sick  than  mental  anguish,  the  tortures  of  an  ac- 
cusing conscience  and  the  consequent  fear  of  dying 
apart  from  Christ.  On  the  other  hand,  tlie  breath- 
ing of  peace  into  a  troubled  soul  and  the  hope  of 
eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ  have,  in  well-at- 
tested cases,  so  quickened  the  restorative  powers  of 
nature  as  to  turn  the  tide  of  sickness  and  prove  the 
best  possible  help  to  the  physician  in  bringing  his 
patients  back  to  health. 

2.  Pass  now  from  physicians  to  others  who  are 
called  to  visit  the  sick  and  the  dying.  In  our  concern 
for  their  souls  it  is  a  great  wrong  to  forget  the 
weakness  of  their  bodies.  Often  the  powers  of  life 
are  so  far  exhausted  that  anytliing  more  than  the 
recital  of  an  invitation  or  promise  of  the  Scriptures 
and  prayer  in  a  few  sentences,  and  all  in  a  subdued 
voice,  would  be  a  cruelty  and  failure. 

Some  are  weaker  even  than  this.  They  may  not 
be  able  to  speak,  and  yet  they  show  by  signs  which 
can  be  understood  that  they  are  not  beyond  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  reached  by  the  word  and  Spirit  of 
truth  and  life.  To  withhold  a  word  in  season  and 
to  refrain  from  offering  audible  prayer  in  such  cases 


WRONG   TREATMENT.  97 

is  to  take  a  respousibility  from  which  a  true  winner 
of  souls  may  well  shrink. 

I  have  known  instances  whereall  the  sensibilities  of 
the  body  and  the  activities  of  the  mind  have  seemed 
to  be  in  suspense,  and  yet  the  sufferers  were  not 
known  to  have  found  rest  in  Christ.  Not  to  have 
spoken  plainly,  as  if  sure  of  a  hearing,  would  have 
been  to  lose  the  only  opportunity  likely  to  be  given 
for  seeking  to  save  those  who  were  ready  to  perish. 

When  the  way  is  clear  for  repeated  visits  and 
free  and  full  conversation,  there  is  such  a  thing  as 
disregarding  the  laws  of  the  mind  itself  by  present- 
ing truth  in  other  than  the  divine  order  and  pro- 
portions. Haphazard  work  with  the  soul  is  worse 
than  such  work  with  the  body,  even  as  the  life  of 
the  soul  is  more  precious  than  the  life  of  the  body. 
We  may  mar  if  not  thwart  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  by  adopting  methods  not  in  keeping  with 
those  which  he  is  wont  to  bless.  As  in  revivals,  so 
called,  appeals  to  the  emotions  instead  of  instruction 
to  the  mind  may  produce  effects  which  are  mistaken 
for  conversion,  yet  which  soon  come  to  naught,  so  an 
unwise  counselor  may  deal  with  one  sick  unto  death. 
He  may  calm  his  fears  and  awaken  his  hopes  by 
assuring  him  that  all  will  be  well  with  him  at  last; 
that  the  heavenly  Father,  whose  child  he  is,  will 


98  THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

not  permit  him  to  perish  ;  that  if  his  loving  dis- 
cipline does  not  complete  its  work  in  this  life,  it 
will  be  continned  in  the  next  until  the  most  way- 
ward of  his  offspring  have  been  saved. 

A  young  man  whom  on  his  death-bed  I  was  ear- 
nestly trying  to  lead  to  Christ,  when  near  the  end 
of  life  startled  me  one  day  by  saying  plainly  that 
he  knew  he  '^  must  go  to  hell ''  (that  was  his  own 
language),  but  hoped  he  might  escape  at  last,  when 
he  had  suffered  the  just  punishment  of  all  his  sins. 
I  told  him  earnestly  and  with  deep  emotion  that, 
dying  with  such  a  lie  in  his  right  hand,  he  had  no 
ground  for  hoping  that  he  would  ever  be  saved. 
To  my  great  relief  and  joy,  I  found  at  my  next 
visit  that  he  had  not  only  abandoned  the  strong  and 
fatal  delusion,  but  that  he  was  rejoicing  in  the  hope 
of  forgiveness  and  eternal  life  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

A  Universalist  friend  of  mine,  the  able  and  pop- 
ular pastor  of  a  neighboring  church,  thought  I  was 
cruel  in  the  extreme  in  so  dealing  with  the  young 
man  ;  but  the  young  man  himself  and  his  friends 
were  most  thankful  for  the  counsel  given  him,  and 
one  of  his  dying  wishes  was  gratified — that  I  might 
support  his  head  when  he  passed  away. 

3.   The  immediate  kindred  and    friends  of  the 


WRONG   TREATMENT.  99 

sick  and  dying  have  great  responsibility  for  their 
treatment  of  their  loved  ones. 

Some  utterly  ignore  the  Bible  and  the  Christian 
religion  for  themselves  and  families.  Enjoying 
a  thousand  blessings  of  Christianity  through  life 
without  discerning  whence  they  come,  they  still, 
almost  without  exception,  desire  for  themselves 
and  kindred  the  rites  of  Christian  burial,  but,  with 
strange  and  dark  unbelief,  they  keep  the  teachers 
of  religion  from  the  rooms  of  their  sick  and  dying 
friends.  And  yet  even  they  load  the  caskets  of 
their  dead  and  the  tables  near  them  with  floral 
crosses  and  crowns  and  harps,  as  if  in  solemn 
mockery  of  the  realities  of  the  gospel  which  they 
represent. 

One  of  the  last  funerals  at  which  I  officiated  was 
that  of  a  dock-loafer  who  fell  overboard  and  was 
drowned,  so  far  as  we  know,  while  plying  his  un- 
lawful craft  and  with  all  his  sins  upon  him.  Yet 
the  pure  flowers  were  made  to  publish  him  a  saint. 

Others  closely  connected  with  the  dying  wait  till 
the  last  moments  of  life,  and  then  send  tearful  mes- 
sengers to  some  accessible  minister  to  hurry  to  the 
suflerer's  help,  when  he  ought  to  have  been  called 
weeks  before.  Quite  lately  a  case  of  this  kind  oc- 
curred near  me.     A  young  man  was  about  to  die. 


100         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

For  some  time  he  had  felt  that  his  days  were  num- 
bered, and  had  asked  that  a  minister  might  be  re- 
quested to  calL  He  had  seen  one  of  his  sisters  fade 
away  and  die  of  the  same  disease.  Happily,  too, 
he  had  heard  from  her  lips  words  of  trust  in  the 
Saviour  and  of  the  hope  of  heaven  with  which  she 
closed  her  short  life  and  cheered  her  friends.  He 
longed  for  a  like  experience,  and  repeated  his  re- 
quest day  after  day  that  some  minister  might  be 
asked  to  call.  For  trivial  reasons  this  simple  re- 
quest was  not  granted.  At  last,  how^ever,  and  sud- 
denly, his  family  saw  that  he  was  dying.  A  sister 
was  despatched  in  all  haste  for  me.  Bathed  in 
tears,  she  begged  me  to  come  quickly.  I  went 
immediately  with  her,  but  before  w^e  reached  the 
house  her  brother  was  dead. 

There  is  another  class  of  persons,  of  whom  I 
speak  with  great  reluctance.  They  are  members 
of  Christian  churches.  From  a  perverted  love  and 
an  erring  judgment  they  keep  from  the  death-room 
all  suo^o^estions  of  dangler  to  their  kindred  soon  to 
die,  and  all  the  consolations  of  religion,  as  if  they 
could  in  that  way  exclude  death  itself. 

A  letter  of  a  Christian  w-oman  known  to  me 
from  childhood  long  ago  gave  me  the  sad  particu- 
lars of  a  case  that  greatly  afflicted  her  at  the  time, 


WRONG  TREATMENT.  101 

as  the  invalid  was  a  very  dear  personal  friend,  to 
whom  slie  would  g;ladlv  have  borne  the  tidins^s  of 
salvation  by  Jesus  Christ,  but  was  not  permitted  to 
do  so,  on  pain  of  being  excluded  from  her  presence 
and  losing  the  friendship  of  the  family. 

The  sufferer  was  the  oldest  daughter  in  a  house- 
hold of  great  wealth  and  refinement.  Her  parents 
were  both  members  of  an  evangelical  Christian 
church.  They  knew,  for  the  physicians  had  told 
them,  that  there  was  not  the  least  hope  of  her  recov- 
ery. They  were  liberal,  kind-hearted  and  tenderly 
devoted  to  their  children.  Upon  this  daughter  they 
had  bestowed  the  rarest  opportunities  of  education. 
All  that  money  could  do  to  minister  to  the  culture 
of  her  mind,  the  gratification  of  her  tastes  and  her 
social  enjoyment  had  been  freely  done.  She  had 
traveled  widelv  in  other  lands,  and  had  "come 
out,"  as  the  phrase  goes,  with  utmost  zest  in  tlie 
circles  of  wealth  and  fashion  in  the  city  where  she 
dwelt.  She  was  known  in  these  circles  as  singular 
for  the  richness  and  beauty  of  the  laces  she  wore, 
the  value  of  her  diamonds  and  other  jewels  and 
the  general  magnificence  of  her  attire. 

At  length  a  fatal  and  very  distressing  malady 
fastened  itself  upon  her.  A  visible  and  sure  de- 
cline began,  lasting  almost  a  year.     Yet  all  those 


102         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

precious  months  were  spent  by  her  family  in  the 
most  careful,  systematic  and  successful  concealment 
of  the  certainty  that  she  must  soon  die.  The  phy- 
sicians, of  whom  she  had  several,  were  charged  in  no 
case  to  Avhisper  her  danger  or  make  known  the  na- 
ture of  her  disease.  She  was  deliberately  and  often 
assured  that  she  would  soon  be  able  to  endure  the 
fatigue  of  foreign  travel.  Although  daily  declin- 
ing; in  streno-th  and  becomino;  more  and  more  ema- 
ciated,  she  fondly  believed  that  she  would  soon  be 
well.  When  one  of  her  physicians  proposed  and 
urged  treatment  that  would  leave  a  stain  upon  one 
of  her  arms  for  some  time,  she  declined  it  because 
she  wished  soon  to  appear  in  society. 

This  deception  on  the  part  of  her  friends  and  de- 
lusion on  her  own  part  continued  to  the  last.  When 
it  was  known  that  she  might  die  any  day  or  hour,  and 
certainly  could  live  but  a  short  time,  she  was  prom- 
ised presents  of  great  value  on  her  recovery,  and 
was  allowed  to  purchase  costly  jewels  to  be  worn  at 
some  future  day. 

She  had  Christian  friends  who  yearned  over  her 
with  inexpressible  tenderness.  One  at  least  remon- 
strated with  the  father,  mother  and  sister.  This 
friend  begged  the  privilege  of  reading  to  the  sufferer 
and  making  known  to  her  her  true  condition.     But 


WRONG   TREATMENT.  103 

she  was  charged  not  to  interfere  with  the  plan  of  the 
family,  and,  though  watching  with  the  sick  girl  night 
after  night,  was  never  permitted  to  be  with  her  alone. 
Even  the  pastor  of  the  family  was  allowed  to  visit 
her  only  on  condition  that  he  should  not  make  known 
to  her  the  secret  of  her  near  dissolution  nor  in  any 
way  awaken  her  fears.  A  very  dear  friend  sent  her 
a  beautiful  bouquet  of  flowers,  with  a  note  attached 
referring  to  their  frailty  and  suggesting  hers.  The 
note  was  detached,  and  although  the  girl  asked  if  one 
did  not  accompany  the  flowers,  an  evasive  answer 
was  given,  and  she  was  not  allowed  to  see  what 
her  friend  had  sent. 

At  last  the  hour  of  her  death  came.  The  fam- 
ily and  two  physicians  were  present,  watching  the 
flickering  flame  of  life.  In  a  despairing  voice  the 
dying  one  said  to  one  of  the  physicians,  ^'  I  believe 
I  am  dying."  As  there  was  no  response,  she  gasped 
out  the  words  once  more  :  "  Doctor,  I  believe — I — 
am — dying."  He  simply  answered,  ^^I  understand 
you."  Not  even  then  was  a  word  of  helpful  truth 
or  earnest  prayer  uttered  in  her  hearing,  and  with 
the  sacred  name,  ^'  O  Lord  !  O  Lord  !"  on  her  dy- 
ing lips,  she  ceased  to  breathe. 

Who  of  us  could  bear  the  responsibility  of  treat- 
ing child,  sister,  friend,  parishioner,  in  this  way  for 


104        THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

months  in  succession  ?  I  think  anj  pastor  would 
be  justified  in  declining  to  visit  a  dying  person 
under  such  restrictions.  'No  wonder  that  the  room 
where  this  young  woman  died  was  closed  to  all 
other  occupants,  and  that  parents  and  friends  had 
great  sorrow  for  many  years. 

This  case  does  not  stand  alone.  Many  reverse 
the  order  of  the  two  values,  putting  the  natural  life 
above  the  eternal,  and  sinking  the  latter  out  of 
view. 

A  Christian  physician  to  whom  I  related  the 
facts  given  above  said  that  a  case  similar  to  it  had 
lately  come  to  his  own  knowledge.  A  father  whose 
only  daughter  was  on  her  death-bed,  with  but  a 
few  days  to  live,  carefully  concealed  the  fact 
from  her.  Friends  were  encouraged  to  send  her 
presents  at  his  expense,  and  he  said  plainly  that  he 
would  shoot  any  one  who  made  known  to  her  the 
certainty  that  she  could  live  but  a  short  time. 

There  is  one  other  kind  of  wrong  treatment  of 
the  sick  and  dying  that  should  be  noticed  with 
strong  disapproval.  I  mean  the  multiplying  of 
teachers,  the  obtrusion  upon  them  of  many  coun- 
selors, and  especially  if  they  are  of  different  schools 
of  theology  and  of  strong  sectarian  habits  of  mind 
and  heart. 


WRONG  TREATMENT.  105 

In  all  critical  cases  many  teachers  distract  and 
weary  the  suiferers.  There  is  danger  of  having 
discordant  counsels  given.  And  the  impression 
may  be  made  that  many  guides  are  needed,  as  if 
reliance  were  placed  rather  upon  the  guides  than 
upon  Christ,  who  said,  ''  I  am  the  Way  and  the 
Truth  and  the  Life."  Even  two  are  not  always 
better  than  one,  unless  they  have  an  understanding 
that  they  will  support  each  other  in  uttering  the  same 
truths  and  in  trying  to  arrest  and  hold  attention  by 
such  concurrence  of  testimony,  while  agreeing  to- 
gether in  asking  the  heavenly  Father,  in  Christ's 
name,  for  the  salvation  of  the  person  or  persons 
wdiom  they  earnestly  desire  to  win  to  Christ. 

Unwise  friends  are  in  danger  of  going  from  one 
extreme  to  another — from  doing  nothing  to  doing 
too  much.  Seized  at  last  with  the  idea  that  one 
whom  they  love  is  in  peril  of  his  life  and  is  not 
prepared  for  the  great  change,  they  attach  too 
much  importance  to  the  number  of  teachers,  and 
not  enough  to  a  wise  choice  of  one  who  knows 
the  sick-room  well  and  is  faithful  and  competent 
in  seeking  to  win  souls.  Happy  the  families  that 
are  instructed  in  these  great  matters,  and  that  are 
blessed  with  wise  Christian  physicians  and  pastors. 

In  passing  to  the  second  part  of  our  subject, 


106         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

viz.  The  Right  Treatment  of  the  Sick  and  Dying, 
I  need  hardly  say  that  great  wisdom  and  sincere 
love  for  the  Saviour  and  the  souls  of  men  are 
always  needed.  With  sanctified  common  sense 
one  will  be  very  sure  quickly  to  perceive  what  is 
best  and  what  should  be  avoided. 

If  the  sufferers  are  Christians  and  are  very  weak, 
a  few  well-chosen  words  of  Scripture  and  a  brief 
prayer  with  good  cheer  from  a  loving,  sympathetic 
and  happy  heart  may  be  all-sufficient,  and  will  do 
good  like  a  medicine. 

For  an  aged  disciple  of  rare  intelligence  and  con- 
secration, belonging  to  a  different  denomination 
from  my  own,  but  under  my  pastoral  care,  I  pre- 
pared from  day  to  day,  at  her  own  request,  brief 
meditations  on  suitable  texts  of  Scripture.  She 
was  too  weak  to  endure  conversation  or  to  meditate 
profitably  by  herself,  but  she  could  joyfully  read 
a  short  page  of  devout  thought  suggested  by  differ- 
ent portions  of  God's  word. 

I  have  often  been  in  the  rooms  of  dying  saints 
who  could  bear  only  a  few  whispered  words.  A 
pastor  or  friend  refined  and  sensitive  will  study 
and  observe  all  the  proprieties  of  the  sick-room, 
and  will  find  that  sometimes  silence  is  better  than 
speech.     Sometimes,  too,  his  mission  will  be  best 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  107 

accomplished  by  merely  leaving  his  name  with  the 
family,  with  the  assurance  for  the  sick  one  that  he 
is  remembered  in  prayer  by  his  pastor.  At  times, 
however,  it  may  be  inexpedient  to  leave  any  mes- 
sage for  the  sick  one  who  is  so  low.  Then  all  that 
the  pastor  can  do  will  be  to  call  upon  the  family. 

But  I  am  to  speak  chiefly  of  the  right  treatment 
of  the  sick  and  dying  who  are  without  the  good 
hope  of  eternal  life  in  Jesus  Christ. 

1.  A  first  duty,  I  think,  is  to  assist  in  forming 
a  correct  public  sentiment  in  regard  to  the  appalling 
danger  of  those  who  fall  sick  in  this  sad  condition. 
Let  the  tidings  spread  from  pulpit  to  pulpit,  from 
house  to  house,  from  suppliant  to  suppliant.  Al- 
ready there  is  such  a  sentiment  in  reference  to 
persons  brought  into  sudden  peril  of  their  bodily 
lives.  A  thrill  of  horror  pervades  a  whole  com- 
munity when  it  is  known  that  a  house  in  which 
there  are  sleepers  is  on  fire  or  that  a  child  is  lost. 
When  I  lived  in  Princeton  and  Avas  a  student  in  the 
seminary,  a  little  boy  about  seven  years  old,  who 
had  been  plavino^  in  a  lumber-vard  till  a  late  hour 
in  the  afternoon,  did  not  return  home  and  could 
not  be  found.  He  was  traced  as  far  on  the  road 
to  Lawrenc^eville  as  a  cottage  where  he  had  asked 
for  a  drink.     Near  it  bars  in  the  fence  revealed 


108         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

a  pathway  into  the  fields  and  clumps  of  trees. 
Later  it  was  found  that  he  had  passed  through 
these  bars.  The  bells  of  the  seminary  and  college 
sounded  the  alarm.  Professors  and  students  and 
citizens  by  the  hundred  came  together,  were  or- 
ganized into  searching  parties  and  went  out  with 
lanterns  far  into  the  chilly  night.  Some  of  us 
continued  the  search  until  the  break  of  day.  At 
last  the  poor  child  was  found  by  a  bird-dog.  He 
was  lying  in  the  deep  grass,  unconscious,  chilled 
to  the  bone  by  the  low  temperature  of  the  uight, 
and  would  probably  have  slept  the  sleep  of  death 
if  left  to  himself.  He  was  borne  to  his  humble 
home  in  the  strono;  arms  of  a  man  no  wav  related 
to  him  as  a  kinsman.  I  have  never  forgotten  the 
thrill  of  nerve  and  heart  when  the  tidings  rang 
out  through  the  still  air  of  the  morning :  "  He  is 
found  !  He  is  found,  and  is  living  but  unconscioitsJ^ 
Again  the  bells  were  rung.  Men  of  all  ages  and 
ranks  and  characters  greeted  each  other  with 
utmost  joy.  Tears  were  on  many  faces  in  the  street 
and  in  scores  of  homes.  Every  mother  felt  the 
gladness  of  a  personal  deliverance.  And  yet  that 
little  boy  was  unknown  to  most  of  the  men  who 
made  long  and  painful  search  for  him,  and  not 
one   in   a   hundred   of  the   men  and  women  who 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  109 

wept   for  gladness  when   lie  was    found   had   any 
personal  knowledge  of  the  child. 

There  is  no  deep  feeling  like  this  when  it  is 
known  that  one  who  has  no  hope  iu  Christ  has 
fallen  sick  and  is  in  danger  of  death.  Even  in 
such  cases  the  chief  anxiety  seems  to  be  for  the  life 
of  the  bodv.  The  sickness  is  not  taken  to  heart 
by  many  persons  as  calling  for  special  and  per- 
sistent effort  for  the  salvation  of  the  soul.  We 
reproach  ourselves  for  want  of  feeling.  We  can 
explain  the  general  indifference  only  on  the  mourn- 
ful theory  that  in  preparation  for  meeting  God 
safely  one  need  not  be  greatly  concerned  about 
being  born  again,  with  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  and  holiness  at  least  in  its  germ. 

T  think  we  should  do  what  we  can,  from  the 
pulpit  and  the  press  and  by  visitation  among  the 
people  committed  to  our  care,  to  change  this  apathy 
to  rational  concern.  If  one  falls  dangerously 
sick,  who,  it  is  feared,  has  made  no  preparation  for 
death,  the  fact  should  be  known  by  those  of  his 
kinsfolk  and  acquaintances  who  believe  in  the 
power  of  prayer.  The  longest  life  is  well  spent 
only  when  it  is  a  true  preparation  for  the  life 
beyond.  But  here  one  is  in  great  peril,  who,  it  is 
believed,  has  yet  to  take  the  first  step  heavenward. 


110         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

How  appalling !  But  God  waits  to  be  gracious. 
Christ  is  able  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  who  come 
unto  God  by  him.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  Spirit 
of  Truth,  the  Author  aud  Interpreter  of  the  word 
which  his  faithful  messengers  earnestly  make 
known.  Pie  can  waken  the  dead  and  lead  them 
to  Christ ;  therefore  w^e  clierish  hope  to  the  last. 
And  this  we  ought  to  do  all  the  more  fondly  if 
we  find  ourselves  and  others  as  intensely  aroused 
as  when  the  bodily  life  of  child  or  adult  is  brought 
into  sudden  peril. 

2.  A  duty  that  cannot  be  too  strongly  stated 
devolves  upon  those  who  are  nearest  the  sufferers 
in  family  relations. 

These  have  the  sick  completely  in  their  power. 
Under  a  false  view  of  the  relation  of  means  to 
ends  —  faith  and  prayer  to  sickness  —  some  are 
known  to  refuse  all  other  agencies  for  healing. 
I  believe  that  this  folly,  to  call  it  by  no  harsher 
name,  has  cost  many  precious  lives.  "  Faith 
cure,"  "Christian  science'^  and  " Mind  cure "  may 
be  classed  too:ether.  I  mention  them  in  this  con- 
nection  only  to  say  with  stronger  emphasis  that 
those  w^ho  have  very  sick  persons  in  their  families 
in  all  ordinary  cases  should  early  call  to  their  help 
a  competent  physician,  and  while  carefully  obeying 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  Ill 

his  directions  sliould  co-operate  with  him  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power.  They  should  be  sure  uot 
to  work  against  liini  purposely  or  by  neglect.  If 
the  sickness  falls  upon  some  poor  kinsman  or  neigh- 
bor, let  them  use  their  kind  offices  to  secure  a  phy- 
sician. It  seems  almost  unnecessary  to  add  that  they 
should  be  sure  of  competence  and  fidelity  in  the 
person  who  is  called  to  guide  the  sick  in  the  way 
of  life. 

3.  It  is  sometimes  a  perplexing  question,  Shall 
minister  or  physician  or  any  one  else  inform  those 
who  are  fatally  sick  that  they  cannot  recover? 

If,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  the  dying  are 
ready  for  the  great  change,  it  is  of  little  conse- 
quence wliether  they  are  told  or  not.  There  may, 
however,  be  some  matters  that  they  Avould  wish  to 
arrange  if  they  knew  that  life  was  about  to  close — 
some  farewell  word  they  might  desire  to  speak,  or 
some  testimony  for  Christ  to  give  to  the  living. 
These  are  reasons  for  telling  them  frankly  yet 
gently  that  the  end  is  near. 

If  they  are  not  Christians,  and  are  flattering 
themselves  that  thev  will  yet  recover  while  all 
others  believe  that  they  can  live  but  a  short  time, 
let  them  know,  as  best  you  can,  that  life  is  waning 
and    eternity   nearing.     I   can    recall    no  instance, 


112         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

in  a  pastorate  of  more  than  forty-two  years,  in 
which  a  person  unprepared  for  death,  and  yet  not 
far  from  it,  could  have  been  wisely  deprived  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  fact.  Such  information 
wisely  and  tenderly  given  is  of  great  use  in  rous- 
ing the  careless  to  the  necessity  of  preparing  for 
the  change  and  giving  earnest  heed  to  instruction 
and  prayer.  I  have  never  known  it  to  destroy  or 
depress  the  powers  of  life. 

"  Conversation  does  not  hurt  me/'  said  a  young 
Irishman  to  Dr.  Spencer  in  one  of  his  last  inter- 
views ;  "  and  it  would  be  no  matter,  you  know,  if 
it  did.  I  am  soon  to  go.  Earth  has  done  with 
me.  The  grave  lifts  up  her  voice  to  claim  me.  I 
am  preparing  to  say,  ^  Yes,  I  come.'  ^'  Most  of 
the  sick  will  be  found  to  share  in  this  feeling. 
If  we  have  dealt  openly  with  them,  we  cannot 
well  help  showing  them  that  our  chief  concern  is 
for  their  salvation.  They  will  see  that  we  make 
everything  subordinate  to  this,  and  will  learn  at 
last,  under  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that 
the  gospel  they  have  neglected  through  life  after 
all  is  the  best  gift  of  God  to  sinful  men,  and  that 
all  its  blessings  are  as  free  to  them  as  the  service 
we  gladly  render  or  as  the  air  they  breathe. 

I   was   once   urged   by  a   father  whom   I   well 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  113 

knew  to  see  his  dying  sou.  He  had  been  fatally 
hurt,  and  died  a  few  days  later.  I  went  with  the 
father  at  once,  but  told  him  by  the  way  that  I 
could  take  the  responsibility  of  caring  for  his  son 
only  on  two  conditions :  one,  that  I  should  have 
full  charge  of  his  instruction  ;  and  the  other,  that 
I  should  decide  when  to  tell  him  that  his  hurt 
was  fatal.  The  father  gave  his  consent  with  tears, 
fearing  that  his  son  could  not  bear  to  learn  that 
his  end  w^as  near.  But  the  father  had  reason,  be- 
fore the  end,  to  rejoice  that  he  consented. 

4.  In  most  cases  of  fatal  sickness  the  responsi- 
bility of  being  the  religious  counselor  falls,  or 
should  fall,  upon  one  person.  The  duty  of  the 
family  is  partially  discharged  in  making  the  selec- 
tion of  one  believed  to  be  competent  for  the  sacred 
duty.  It  may  be  one  of  their  own  number,  or  some 
friend  of  the  sufferer,  or  the  pastor  of  the  congre- 
gation to  which  the  family  belongs.  In  either  case 
the  duties  of  the  one  chosen  are  very  serious,  and 
should  be  well  understood. 

(1)  He  ought  to  be  fully  convinced  that  he  is 
called  in  the  providence  of  God,  as  well  as  by  the 
choice  of  his  fellows,  to  the  solemn  dutv.  Other- 
wise  he  may  have  serious  misgivings,  and  at  criti- 
cal   moments,   when    important  decisions   must  be 


114         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

promptly  made,  wish  that  another  were  in  his 
place.  If  he  is  the  pastor  of  the  household,  he 
need  have  little  doubt  regarding  his  duty.  And  yet 
a  devoted  Christian  minister,  who  is  now  vener- 
able for  his  years  and  his  excellence  of  character, 
told  me  a  few  days  ago  that,  having  been  called 
as  a  young  j^astor  to  visit  a  dying  person  in  his 
congregation,  he  was  greatly  alarmed,  and  hardly 
knew  what  to  say  or  do,  wishing  earnestly  that  he 
might  be  relieved  from  the  responsibility  of  guid- 
ing a  soul  so  near  to  the  other,  world. 

(2)  It  is  very  important  to  see  the  sufferer  alone 
sometimes,  if  not  always.  He  may  wish  to  make 
statements  about  himself  that  he  cannot  get  his 
own  consent  to  make  in  the  presence  of  the  family 
or  any  one  but  his  religious  teacher.  When  one 
has  lived  for  years  without  revealing  thoughts  and 
feelings  on  religious  subjects,  there  is  great  reluct- 
ance to  speak  of  them  except  confidentially  to  some 
one  who  is  accepted  as  a  religious  teacher.  This 
is  true  of  persons  in  health  when  awakened  to  ask 
about  the  way  of  life.  Every  pastor  knows  that 
inquirers  are  apt  to  seek  counsel  privately,  and  not 
of  any  in  their  own  families.  When,  by  the  grace 
of  God,  salvation  comes  to  the  anxious  soul  in 
health    or   sickness,   the   reasons    for   privacy   no 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  115 

longer  exist,  but  until  that  time  one  responsible  for 
telling  a  dying  person  what  to  do  to  be  saved 
should  share  in  the  desire  to  be  without  the 
embarrassment  of  having  others  present. 

(3)  Let  a  thorough  and  prayerful  study  of  every 
case  be  made,  that  instruction  may  be  wisely  given. 
Better  trust  the  care  of  the  body  to  physicians  who 
are  careless  in  their  diagnosis  and  treatment,  or  to 
those  of  different  schools  of  practice,  than  immortal 
souls,  as  yet  unsaved,  to  teachers  who  make  no 
careful  inquiry  regarding  heredity,  temperament, 
idiosyncrasy,  history,  character,  manner  of  life, 
if  these  are  not  already  known.  It  is  true  that 
"as  in  water  face  answereth  to  face,  so  the  heart 
of  man  to  man ;''  yet  is  it  equally  true  that  the 
dying  may  differ  in  many  respects  from  each 
other,  and  should  be  well  known  bv  those  who  are 
called  to  give  them  counsel.  Unlike  in  age  and 
intelligence,  they  may  be  still  more  unlike  in 
regard  to  the  knowledge  and  treatment  of  Bible 
truth,  which,  so  far  as  we  know,  is  the  Holy 
Spirit's  only  instrument  in  saving  adult  sinners. 

(4)  In  most  cases  frequent  and  short  visits  are 
better  than  infrequent  and  long  ones.  They  are 
less  exhausting  to  the  sick ;  they  are  the  best  proof 
of  sincere  love  and  deep  concern ;  they  win  confi- 


116        TEE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

dence,  and  are  most  helpful  to  arouse  what  may 
sometimes  be  a  perverted  or  slumbering  coDscience; 
and  they  serve  to  fix  salutary  impressions  of  vital 
truths  on  what  may  come  to  be  an  enfeebled  under- 
standing and  failing  heart.  And,  besides  all  this, 
if  there  are  evidences  of  the  birth  from  above, 
there  will  be  need  of  instruction  in  the  great 
truths  of  God's  word.  Jesus  said,  '^  Sanctify  them 
through  thy  truth  :  thy  word  is  truth." 

(5)  One  cannot  always  enter  a  sick-room  when 
he  would  gladly  do  it.  A  wise  and  affectionate 
letter  sent  through  the  mail,  and  then  another  and 
another,  may  open  a  door  otherwise  closed,  and 
prove  to  be  the  beginning  of  a  blessed  ministry. 
And  after  the  door  is  open  and  one  has  freest 
entrance,  letters  may  be  more  helpful  than  inter- 
views only,  for  they  can  be  read  and  often  re-read, 
until  the  truths  they  contain  are  fixed  in  the  mind. 

A  youth  who  was  known  to  me  to  be  sinking 
under  pulmonary  disease  said  to  his  father,  in 
reference  to  myself,  ^^  Ask  him  to  call,  but  request 
him  to  say  nothing  about  religion  and  not  to  pray, 
for  that  will  make  me  think  I  am  going  to  die.'' 

I  called  by  invitation,  chatted  a  few  moments 
on  commonplace  subjects  and  said  good-bye,  taking 
the  young  man  at  his  word  in  regard  to  the  subjects 


RIGET  TREATMENT.  117 

of  "  religion  "  and  ^^  prayer."  But  I  determined 
to  win  my  way  to  his  sick-room  as  a  messenger  of 
Christ,  andj  having  sent  one  or  two  letters  to  him 
by  mail,  I  was  soon  asked  to  call.  I  found  my 
letters  lying  on  a  stand  close  beside  him,  with  his 
Bible  there  too.  The  letters  had  been  read  more 
than  once,  and,  finding  that  he  prized  them  greatly, 
I  continued  to  write  for  sixty  consecutive  days, 
making  frequent  visits  also.  The  last  letter  was 
written  and  read  on  the  day  of  his  death.  They 
are  now  bound,  and  treasured  by  the  family  as  the 
counsel  given  to  one  who  was  very  dear  to  many 
hearts  as  he  passed  from  death  unto  life,  and  came, 
before  he  left  us,  to  the  glad  confession  of  Christ, 
and  at  the  last,  as  we  believe,  to  the  joyful  depart- 
ure to  be  with  Christ. 

But  whether  one  speaks  or  writes  to  the  sick,  it 
should  be  always  remembered  that  the  word  of 
God  is  the  instrument  by  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
puts  forth  his  saving  power  in  ^^  convincing  and 
converting  sinners  and  building  them  up  in  holi- 
ness and  comfort  through  faith  unto  salvation." 
Let  one  think  what  that  word  has  been  and  is  to 
himself,  and  in  preparation  for  his  work  let  him 
saturate  his  own  soul  with  it.  Then  he  will  speak 
out   of  the   abundance  of  his   heart.     Readins-  or 


118         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

repeating  it,  he  may  wisely  give  the  sense  in  words 
easy  to  be  understood.  If  the  meaniug  is  clear, 
let  him  rely  consciously  on  the  Spirit  of  Truth  to 
interpret  and  apply  it  to  the  soul.  Often  it  is  wise 
to  select  passages  by  book  and  chapter  and  verse, 
and  mark  them  for  others  to  read  at  the  bedside. 
It  is  important,  too,  in  the  use  of  Scripture  to 
have  regard  to  the  divine  order  and  proportions  of 
truth.  The  saving  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
two  principal  parts.  "When  he  is  come,''  said 
Jesus,  "  he  shall  reprove  the  world  of  sin,  and  of 
righteousness,  and  of  judgment.''  The  reasons 
follow.  This  is  one  part.  "  He  shall  glorify  me, 
for  he  shall  receive  of  mine  and  shall  show  it  unto 
you."  This  is  the  other.  It  is  equally  important, 
for  "  No  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  but 
by  the  Holy  Ghost."  It  belongs  to  him  to  reveal 
Christ's  divine  person,  his  perfect  character,  his  sa- 
cred offices,  his  redemptive  work  and  his  willingness 
and  ability  "  to  save  to  the  uttermost  all  that  come 
unto  God  by  him."  Nor  should  it  be  thought 
enough  to  point  the  dying  sinner  to  the  divine  Sa- 
viour as  if  he  were  only  far  away  in  the  heavens. 
His  glorified  humanity  does  not  limit  his  deity. 
As  he  dwells  in  the  heart  of  the  believer  bv  faith, 
it  is  his  privilege  to  urge  the  unsaved  one  to  come 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  119 

to  the  Saviour,  to  believe  that  he  is  present,  and, 
as  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander  wrote  of  him,  "  the 
most  accessible  being  in  the  universe.''  It  is  our 
duty  and  privilege  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  to  take 
them  with  ourselves  to  his  presence  and  make 
intercession  for  them,  giving  them  to  understand 
that  under  this  ministration  of  the  Spirit  they  do 
not  need  to  think  of  him  as  coming  down  out  of 
the  heavens  to  enlighten  them  in  the  knowledge 
of  the  truth,  but  rather  as  passing  from  the  heart 
of  the  believer  to  their  hearts. 

(6)  It  is  helpful  to  have  knowledge  of  Christian 
hymnology  for  use  in  the  sick-room.  If  one  can 
sing  the  sweet  truths  of  the  gospel  in  "  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs,"  so  much  the  better; 
but  care  should  be  taken  not  to  excite  mere  emo- 
tion before  the  mind  is  well  supplied  with  Bible 
truths. 

How  precious  are  the  hymns  beginning  with  the 
words  "Come,  humble  sinner,  in  whose  breast;" 
"  I'll  go  to  Jesus  though  my  sins;"  "Just  as  I  am, 
without  one  plea ;"  "  Jesus,  lover  of  my  soul ;" 
"  My  faith  looks  up  to  thee,"  and  many  another 
in  common  use ! 

(7)  It  is  a  great  help  to  those  who  are  feeling 
after  Christ  on  a  dying  bed  to  be  told  how  others 


120         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

during  their  last  clays  have  found  peace  in  believ- 
ing, and  have  witnessed  a  good  confession  before 
leaving  the  world.  And  it  gives  them  great  con- 
fidence in  one  who  has  the  responsibility  of  in- 
structing them  to  learn  from  his  own  lips  what 
the  Lord  has  done  for  his  soul.  It  is  wise^  there- 
fore, in  some  cases  to  tell  the  story  of  one's  early 
faith  and,  it  may  be,  later  conflicts,  for  the  Adver- 
sary is  often  very  cruel  and  aggressive  in  dealing 
with  those  who  have  but  a  short  time  to  live. 

(8)  Having  given  heed  to  the  important  matters 
already  noticed,  it  remains  for  one  to  cast  himself 
in  his  helplessness  upon  the  God  of  all  grace  for 
direction,  support  and  results.  Let  him  never  lose 
sight  of  the  sovereignty  and  supremacy  of  God 
in  saving  sinners.  It  is  his  prerogative  to  have 
mercy  upon  whom  he  will  have  mercy ;  to  send  his 
saving  word  and  renewing  Spirit  to  the  heart  of 
the  sufferer  about  to  die,  or  to  leave  him  in  the 
darkness  of  unbelief  and  death.  Let  no  one  com- 
plain of  this,  but,  with  sweet  and  conscious  acqui- 
escence in  the  unknown  will  of  the  Lord  of  life, 
go  on  with  his  humble  and  beneficent  work,  giving 
line  upon  line,  precept  upon  precept,  here  a  little 
and  there  a  little  of  precious  truth.  Let  it  be 
adapted  to  a  case  that  has  been  carefully  studied ; 


RIGHT  TREATMENT.  121 

and  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  in  the  build- 
ing of  character  for  eternity,  as  in  the  building  of 
the  temple-walls  in  troublous  times,  the  work  is 
not  by  might  nor  by  power,  but  by  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord.  One  may  well  rouse  himself  to  intelli- 
gent, persistent  and  hopeful  effort  by  reflecting 
that  the  salvation  of  a  soul,  always  impossible  to 
man,  is  possible  to  God  in  the  most  adverse  cir- 
cumstances ;  that  '^  man's  extremity  is  God's  op- 
portunity," and  that  when  effected  the  salvation 
brings  glory  to  God,  produces  joy  in  heaven,  gives 
life  eternal  to  an  immortal  soul,  w^ith  large  reward 
here  and  hereafter  to  the  souFs  winner. 

For  these  and  other  reasons  let  the  minister 
avail  himself  of  all  possible  help  in  his  work. 
The  word  of  God  is  powerless  unless  accompanied 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  is  given  in  answer  to  the 
prayer  of  faith.  In  this,  as  in  many  other  import- 
ant matters,  "  two  are  better  than  one."  Jesus 
said,  "  If  two  of  you  shall  agree  on  earth  as 
touching  anything  that  they  shall  ask,  it  shall  be 
done  for  them  of  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven.'' 
The  limitations  of  asking  are  not  hard  to  find. 
We  act  under  a  divine  commission  in  seeking;  the 
salvation  of  souls;  therefore  we  may  assure  our- 
selves that  Christ  is  himself  interested  in  what  so 


122         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

deeply  concerns  us.  But  we  may  not  dictate  while 
we  ])ray  without  ceasing.  Pray  in  secret,  by  the 
wayside,  in  the  family.  We  may  take  the  dying 
and  lay  them  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  by  the  faith  that 
makes  the  transaction  very  real ;  remembering 
that  one  borne  of  four  was  laid  at  his  feet  in 
Palestine,  and  that  when  "  he  saw  thei?-  faith,  he 
said  unto  him,  Man,  thy  sins  are  forgiven  thee.'' 
Therefore  let  others  come  into  the  secret  of  the 
dying  sinner's  need  and  peril,  and  secure  their 
prayers.  Let  intercessions  of  faith  be  offered 
where  Christians  meet  for  praN^er,  and  let  the  rep- 
resentatives of  many  homes  bear  the  burden  of  the 
imperiled  soul  away  with  them,  until  from  many 
closets  and  family  altars  fervent  supplications  shall 
be  offered  to  the  Hearer  of  prayer.  If  they  fail 
to  secure  the  very  thing  reverently  asked  for,  they 
cannot  fail  to  bring  large  benediction  to  those  who 
offer  them.  A  Christian  Church  is  an  organized 
part  of  the  great  kingdom  of  priests.  It  is  graced 
with  authority  and  power  to  make  intercession  in 
the  name  of  Christ  and  to  offer  the  sacrifice  of 
praise  and  thanksgiving.  And  every  believer  may 
be  an  Israelite  indeed,  one  of  the  princes  of  the 
earth,  having  power  to  prevail  with  God  and  men. 
Meetings  for  prayer  have  new  interest  when  they 


USES.  123 

are  thus  connected  with  the  saving  of  souls  that 
are  ready  to  perish.  The  suppliants  come  to 
expect  triumphs  of  grace;  and  as  from  time  to 
time,  in  the  history  of  individual  churches,  tidings 
come  of  salvation  found  even  on  the  bed  of  death, 
there  will  be  not  only  joy  in  many  hearts,  but  a 
new  consciousness  of  power  for  all  church  work, 
and  a  firmer  faith  that  heaven  and  earth  are  very 
near  each  other  and  service  here  a  preparation  for 
service  there. 

It  remains  now  only  to  notice  briefly  some  of  the 
uses  that  may  he  loisely  made  of  death-bed  experiences, 

1.  There  is  great  variety  in  results.  Personally, 
I  wish  that  services  for  the  burial  of  the  dead  micrht 
be  greatly  simplified  and  expenses  reduced. 

Moreover,  if  anything  is  to  be  said  of  the  depart- 
ed, it  were  better  reserved,  I  think,  to  be  spoken 
at  one  of  the  regular  services  of  the  house  of  God. 
Saving  impressions  are  rarely  made  on  the  minds 
and  hearts  of  unsaved  persons  who  flock  to  fune- 
rals but  neglect  sanctuaries.  True,  indeed,  "  it  is 
better  to  go  to  the  house  of  mourning  than  to  go  to 
the  house  of  feastino-  •  for  that  is  the  end  of  all 
men :  and  the  living  will  lay  it  to  his  heart.^' 
But  the  living  who  lay  it  to  heart  are  chiefly  those 
who  already  have  life  in  Christ. 


124         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

2.  Only  in  cases  that  are  quite  exceptional  can 
a  minister  wisely  speak  plainly  of  the  dead  who 
have  wasted  life  and  seemingly  died  in  their  sins. 
And  then  it  should  be  only  with  the  approval  of 
the  kindred  and  for  the  benefit  of  the  living;. 

3.  If  the  deceased  indulged  the  hope  of  salva- 
tion only  in  their  last  sickness,  there  is  need  of 
careful  discrimination  in  what  may  be  said  of 
them. 

In  some  cases  the  evidences  of  repentance  and 
the  acceptance  of  Christ  as  the  Saviour  may  be 
most  convincing  and  inspiring  to  many  witnesses. 
Joy  and  praise  and  wonder  fill  all  hearts.  There 
is  an  opportunity  to  magnify  the  grace  of  God 
before  the  living  and  to  instruct  and  comfort 
mourners. 

4.  We  ought  to  keep  in  mind  life-long  character, 
fixed  habits,  education,  employments,  associations. 
We  may  not  make  light  of  the  effects  of  disease 
and  of  remedies  on  the  action  of  the  mind  and  the 
words  of  the  mouth.  Nor  should  we  lose  sio-ht  of 
lineage  near  and  remote,  ancestral  faith  and  inter- 
cessions or  the  lack  of  them.  Pravers  not  less  than 
alms  are  for  a  memorial  before  God.  A  Chris- 
tian lineage  is  better  than  a  kingly  one.  The 
accumulated  intercessions  of  the  pious    for  many 


USES.  125 

generations  are  a  power  in  the  kingdom  of  GocFs 
grace.  He  does  not  forget  them,  nor  should  we. 
It  may  be  wise  to  give  prominence  to  this  truth  in 
speaking  of  the  dead  who,  even  in  their  last  days, 
come  to  the  glad  recognition  of  it,  and  call  in 
faith  and  repentance  upon  the  God  of  their  fathers 
and  mothers.  The  streets  of  villages  and  cities 
resound  with  the  joy  of  those  who  have  found 
even  a  child  that  was  lost.  Nothing  should  hinder 
the  thanksgiving  of  those  who  have  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  a  soul  dead  in  trespasses  and  sins  has 
been  made  alive  in  Christ  even  on  a  death-bed. 

The  Spirit  of  Truth  has  preserved  for  us  the 
written  account  of  the  change  in  the  dying  robber 
and  his  quick  entrance  into  paradise  with  Jesus 
himself.  The  same  Spirit  may  be  asked  to  direct 
his  servants,  who  desire  to  know  what  he  will  have 
them  do,  in  helping  the  living  through  the  experi- 
ences of  those  who  have  passed  away. 

5.  Records  of  conversions,  the  deceased  being  no 
longer  present  Avitli  the  living,  are  very  different 
from  records  of  remarkable  conversions  published 
to  the  world  by  the  converts  themselves  or  by 
others  while  the  subjects  of  them  are  still  living. 
One  cannot  but  tremble  for  professed  converts 
when,  shortly  after  their  change,  from  their  own 


126        THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-BOOM. 

lips  or  pens  or  through  the  agency  of  others  the 
story  of  their  conversion  is  published.  It  is  not 
every  mature  Christian  who  could  hear  from  the 
pulpit  or  read  in  papers  secular  or  religious  the 
story  of  his  new  life  in  Christ  and  suffer  no  harm. 

But  the  case  is  quite  different  when  the  converts 
have  left  the  world.  If  their  experience  has  been 
either  usual  or  exceptional,  throwing  strong  light 
upon  God's  methods  of  dealing  with  souls,  as  they 
cannot  be  hurt  by  its  publication,  it  may  be  our 
duty  to  give  it  to  the  world  not  only  for  the  com- 
fort of  the  sorrowing,  but  for  the  good  of  others. 

Nor  should  we  pay  too  much  regard  to  the 
danger  of  the  irreligious  perverting  such  narra- 
tives. Nothing  escapes  perversion.  The  goodness 
of  God,  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  the  loving 
invitations  and  commands  of  God, — all  these  make 
their  appeal  to  multitudes  in  vain.  God's  ambas- 
sadors, sent  to  publish  the  tidings  and  conditions 
of  peace,  become  a  savor  of  life  unto  life  to  some, 
but  of  death  unto  death  to  others,  yet  equally  a 
sweet  savor  of  God  in  them  that  are  saved  and  in 
them  that  perish.  Yet  is  it  blessed  for  them  to  de- 
liver their  message,  and  leave  results  with  God. 

A  plain  statement  of  what  has  been  done  in 
behalf  of  the  deceased,  of  the  intense  concern  felt 


USES.  127 

by  many  for  their  salvation,  and  of  the  individual 
and  associated  efforts  to  win  their  souls  is  a  revela- 
tion to  the  world  of  the  great  danger  of  all  Avho 
are  not  in  Christ,  of  the  nature  of  Christianity  and 
of  what  sinners  must  do  to  be  saved. 

The  Church  itself  is  edified  by  accounts  of  con- 
versions occurring  in  the  last  days  of  life,  and  the 
methods  God  owns  in  securing  them.  They  help 
young  Christians.  They  comfort  aged  saints. 
They  are  suggestive  to  those  who  have  little  if  any 
experience  in  leading  souls  to  Christ.  They  illus- 
trate the  value  of  the  household  covenant  in  many 
cases.  They  bear  witness  to  the  power  of  inter- 
cessory prayer.  They  encourage  pastors  to  make 
record  of  facts  relating  to  the  salvation  of  souls, 
which,  if  not  set  down  at  the  time,  are  lost  to 
memory,  but,  preserved,  become  precious. 

Brethren,  my  work  is  done.  Imperfect  I  know 
it  has  been.  I  bring  it  hither  and  lay  it  on  your 
hearts.  You  liope  to  live  and  work  for  the  Master 
and  for  souls.  Whether  here  or  in  other  lands, 
your  field  will  be  the  world — and  the  dying  world, 
for  which  Christ  died.  Do  not  despair  of  any  soul 
while  life  lasts.  Even  if  reason  seems  to  be 
dethroned  or  the  soul  lost  to  consciousness,  let  not 
even  this  hinder  your  confidence  in  God  and  in  the 


128         THE  PASTOR  IN  THE  SICK-ROOM. 

power  of  his  grace.  "  I  am  he  that  liveth  and  was 
dead ;  and,  behold,  I  am  alive  for  ever  more, 
Amen,  and  have  the  keys  of  hades  and  of  death." 
These  are  words  of  the  glorified  Christ  to  the  apos- 
tle John.  No  door  for  their  departure  out  of  this 
life  is  opened  to  the  dying  without  his  will.  Call 
upon  him  in  faith  and  submission  in  their  behalf, 
and  though  you  may  not  know  results  with  certain- 
ty in  this  life,  you  will  wait  calmly,  more  than  sat- 
isfied to  have  him  do  all  his  holy  pleasure. 

I  am  thankful  to  the  faculty  and  to  you,  the 
students,  for  the  privilege  of  bringing  to  this  be- 
loved place  some  of  the  fruits  of  pastoral  services 
continued  through  many  years.  More  than  thirty 
years  ago  I  thought  of  asking  to  be  allowed  to 
speak  to  the  students  then  present,  but  I  was  timid 
and  did  not  venture.  These  later  years  have  added 
to  the  strength  of  my  conviction  that  to  despair  of 
the  sick  and  dying  and  leave  them  without  special 
solicitude  and  effort  for  their  salvation  is  to  wrong 
one's  own  soul  as  well  as  theirs,  and  to  dishonor 
the  gracious  Saviour  who  said  to  the  dying  robber, 
"  To-day  sJialt  thou  be  with  me  in  paradise.''^ 


